Clashes erupt after Egypt church shooting

CAIRO - Huge crowds of Christians clashed with police in the southern Egyptian town of Nagaa Hamadi Thursday after a shooting outside a Coptic Christian church that left six teenagers and one policeman dead.

Footage aired on Qatar’s al-Jazeera satellite television network showed police using batons to beat back angry crowds of Christians protesting the delay of the victims’ burial outside the hospital morgue where the bodies were being kept.

The crowds dispersed after the corpses were released, local parishioners told DPA, adding that the bodies had been buried.

The clashes followed Wednesday night’s drive-by shooting that killed six Coptic Christian teenagers leaving a Christmas Eve mass and one Muslim policeman guarding the church. Coptic Christians celebrate Christmas on Jan 7.

Police in the town, some 650 km south of Cairo, said they were searching for three suspects identified in their initial investigations.

Bishop Kirollos of the Nagaa Hamadi Diocese blamed the police for the incident, saying that he had asked security officers to take special precautions during Christmas celebrations.

Kirollos said he had received a text message on his mobile saying, “It is your turn”, al-Jazeera reported on its website.

He said townspeople had also threatened his parishioners in the streets, and that some had shouted “We will not let you have festivities”, the station reported.

Sectarian relations in the town have been tense since Muslim residents rioted in response to the rape of a 12-year-old girl, allegedly by a Christian man.

According to government figures, Christians make up approximately 10 percent of Egypt’s population, though many Christians say they believe the real figure is higher.