Egypt on Alert After Night of Deadly Clashes

By Mariam Fam - Oct 10, 2011 5:03 PM GMT+0700

Egyptian security forces deployed outside government buildings in central Cairo after a night of clashes between Coptic Christian protesters and security forces that left at least 24 dead.

The violence began when several hundred Egyptian Christians protesting a recent attack on a church came under assault by people in plain clothes and were later confronted by security forces. Protests continued late into the night with the military imposing a curfew until 7 a.m. in the center of the capital.

“This was not violence between Christians and the army, nor was it violence between Christians and Muslims, there were thugs involved,” said Father Youssef Samir, a Coptic priest surveying the damage. Police in riot gear directed traffic today along the Nile, where an upturned, burnt-out car and smashed glass remained from the violence.

Egyptian shares dropped to the lowest level in more than two years. The benchmark EGX 30 Index slumped 3.1 percent to 3,803.62 at 11:18 a.m. in Cairo, the lowest intraday level since March 2009. Orascom Construction Industries (OCIC), the country’s biggest publicly traded builder, lost 2.2 percent. Citadel Capital SAE headed for the lowest close since listing in December 2009.

Discrimination against Copts, who make up about 10 percent of the population of Egypt, had been encouraged by the government of former president Hosni Mubarak, according to a U.S. State Department report on religious freedom published last year. Some Christians say this policy has continued under the military council which took power after Mubarak was ousted in February.

Church Protest

Coptic Christians had gathered to protest the demolition on Oct. 1 of a church in Aswan, in southern Egypt, said Samuel Sobhi, 34, who joined friends and relatives of the dead today in the Coptic Hospital in central Cairo. At least 24 people were killed and 272 injured in the violence, the state-run Middle East News Agency reported today, citing Health Ministry figures.

The demonstrations started peacefully with a march in the Shoubra district but degenerated when protesters came under attack by men in plainclothes who pelted them with stones, witnesses including Sobhi said. Demonstrators later clashed with security forces in the center of the city, where many were killed and injured by gunfire and by armored vehicles driving into the crowd, he said.

‘Grip on Power’

“The army created this because they wanted to tighten their grip on power, they want people to forget all about elections and all about democracy,” said Sobhi.

Prime Minister Essam Sharaf said in a televised speech that the clashes were “unjustified violence” that “raised fear and concerns about the future of this homeland” and the country’s transition to democracy.

Some protesters may have snatched weapons from soldiers and turned them on the military, in addition to throwing rocks and bottles, the Associated Press reported late yesterday. Egyptian security forces arrested dozens of protesters near the state television building, according to MENA. Protests also broke out in four other provinces in Egypt, according to Al Arabiya television.

Mubarak’s regime had failed to prosecute perpetrators of violence against Coptic Christians in a number of cases and failed to address laws, particularly with respect to church construction and renovation, which discriminate against Christians, according to the State Department report.

“What is happening now is not clashes between Muslims and Christians but attempts to spark chaos and strife among the homeland sons,” Prime Minister Sharaf wrote on his Facebook page. “I call upon Egyptians to not respond to the calls for strife.”

Sharaf was in contact with military leaders and church officials, attempting to contain the crisis, MENA said.

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To contact the reporter on this story: Mariam Fam in Cairo at mfam1@bloomberg.net.