Calm returns to Egyptian town after riots

CAIRO - The northern Egyptian town of Marsa Matruh was quiet Saturday, following violent clashes between Muslims and Christians that left 30 people injured the night before, police said.

The clashes, which started when Muslim residents of the Mediterranean port threw stones at workers they believed were building a church, left 30 people injured and nine houses burned, and again called attention to the country’s simmering sectarian tensions.

General Hussein Fikri, head of security for the north-western province of Marsa Matruh, told state media that police had restored calm to the town.

Officials quoted in state media said the provincial governor, Ahmed Hussein, had called local church officials to ask them to demolish the wall workers had started to build to prevent any further troubles, and that church leaders had agreed.

State media reported that the wall had, in fact, been intended to be part of a hospice, and not a church.

Clashes between Egypt’s Christian and Muslim populations are rare, but tensions do periodically erupt over disputes over women or the construction of houses of worship.

In the worst sectarian attack in years, six Christians and one Muslim police officer were shot to death Jan 6 when gunmen opened fire on Christians leaving a Coptic Christmas Eve Mass in the town of Nagaa Hamadi, 650 kilometres south of Cairo.

According to government figures, Christians account for roughly 10 per cent of Egypt’s population, but many Egyptian Christians said they believe the real figure is higher.