Egyptian Coptic Christians try to smother flames on their clothes after they were attacked by unidentified people outside the cathedral in the central Cairo neighbourhood of Abbassiya, yesterday, following funeral prayers for four Christians killed in sectarian clashes.
CAIRO: One person was killed and 84 were wounded in clashes at the Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in central Cairo yesterday after a funeral service for four Egyptian Christians killed in sectarian violence with Muslims, state media said.
Police fired tear gas to disperse the crowds but clashes continued late into the evening. Fresh clashes erupted when hundreds of angry Copts came to the funeral service at St. Mark’s Cathedral. After an emotional church service, Christians chanted anti-government slogans and started hurling rocks at police officers outside the cathedral, witnesses said.
Some protesters, believed to be Copts, smashed six private cars and set two on fire, prompting an angry reaction from Muslims living in the neighbourhood, who threw home-made petrol bombs and stones at them, a witness said. reuters
