Egypt cabinet to meet over violence that kills 23 violence, military, country, people, burned

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Egypt cabinet to meet over violence that kills 23



CAIRO, Oct 10 (Reuters) - Christians clashed with military police, leaving at least 23 people dead in Cairo, and the Egyptian cabinet called an emergency meeting for Monday, vowing the violence would not derail the country’s first election since Hosni Mubarak was toppled.

Christians protesting about an attack on a church set cars on fire, burned army vehicles and hurled rocks at military police who they said used heavy-handed tactics against them. It was some of the worst violence since the February uprising.

The violence casts a shadow over the imminent parliamentary election. Voting starts on on Nov. 28 with candidates due to begin registering during the week starting on Wednesday.

The clashes also added to growing frustration among activists with the army who many Egyptians suspect wants to keep hold of the reins of power from behind the scenes even as it hands over day-to-day government, a charge the ruling generals deny.

“This is a dark day in the military’s history. This is betrayel, a conpsiracy, murder,” Magdy el-Serafy wrote on Twitter where he and other Egyptians voiced frustration at the army’s handling of the protest.

Medical and security sources said at least 23 people were killed. State television and sources said at least 150 people were injured. They did not give a breakdown, though state television had earlier reported three soldiers were killed.

“What happened in front of the state TV building is exactly what happened on Jan. 25,” wrote Muslim activist Asmaa Mahfouz, referring to the start of the anti-Mubarak uprising.

Christians, who make up 10 percent of Egypt’s roughly 80 million people, took to the streets after blaming Muslim radicals for partially demolishing a church in Aswan province last week. They also demanded the sacking of the province’s governor for failing to protect the building.

Tensions between Christians and Muslims have increased since the uprising. But Muslim and Christian activists said the violence that erupted on Sunday was not due to sectarian differences but was directed at the army’s handling of the protest.

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The cabinet said in a statement that it would “not let any group manipulate the issue of national unity in Egypt or delay the process of democratic transformation” which it said would begin with opening the doors to candidate nominations.

Cabinet spokesman Mohamed Hegazy told Reuters the cabinet would hold a special session on Monday to discuss the events.

“The most important thing is to contain the situation, see the way forward and the necessary measures to avoid any ramifications,” Hegazy said, adding a committee of prominent figures from the church and Al-Azhar mosque would also meet.

Presidential candidate Amr Moussa and political groups said they would hold an emergency meeting on Monday to discuss the violence.

The army imposed a curfew on Cairo’s Tahrir Square, the focus for protests that brought down Mubarak, and the downtown area. It was set from 2 a.m. to 7 a.m., (0000-0500 GMT).

Pictures of smashed faces and dead bodies of what activists said were bodies run over by military vehicles circulated online, with angry comments comparing the violence used by the military to that of Mubarak’s hated police in the uprising.

“What happened today is unprecedented in Egypt. 17 corpses crushed by military tanks,” Hossam Bahgat, human rights activist tweeted from hospital. “I saw bodies missing hands and legs, heads twisted away or plastered to the ground.”

Protesters also took to the streets in Alexandria, Egypt’s second city.

The government appealed for calm. Prime Minister Essam Sharaf said he had contacted security and church authorities to contain the situation.

“The only beneficiary of these events and acts of violence are the enemies of the January revolution and the enemies of the Egyptian people, both Muslim and Christian,” he said on his Facebook page.


Egyptian Christians march in Cairo during a protest against an attack on a church in southern Egypt


Army vehicles burned during during a protest in Cairo against the attack on a church in southern Egypt. Nineteen people were killed in Cairo on Sunday when Christians, some carrying crosses and pictures of Jesus, clashed with military police, medical and security sources said, in the latest sectarian flare-up in a country in political turmoil.


Egyptian Coptic Christians march in Cairo to protest an attack on a church in southern Egypt, Oct. 9, 2011.


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