Egypt cabinet in crisis talks as 24 die in unrest

Oct 10, 2011
By Jailan Zayan, AFP
Source: Yahoo News

CAIRO (AFP) - The Egyptian government was set for crisis talks on Monday after clashes left 24 people dead, raising fears of widespread sectarian unrest that threatens to widen the cracks in an already fragile transition from Hosni Mubarak's regime.

Prime Minister Essam Sharaf was to convene an emergency cabinet meeting on Monday afternoon, state television reported.

The meeting came as at least 40 people were arrested in central Cairo overnight after a demonstration by Copts in the Maspero district degenerated into deadly clashes that left more than 200 people wounded, a security official told AFP.

It was not immediately clear how many of those detained were Muslim or Christian.

A curfew was imposed overnight in parts of the Egyptian capital following the clashes.

Coptic Christians had been holding a demonstration to protest against a recent attack on a church in the southern Egyptian city of Aswan when the clashes started, sparking further fighting later near the hospital housing the mortuary.

In a late night address, Sharaf called on Egyptians "not to give in to sedition", warning that Egypt is "in danger."

At least five of the dead were mown down by a speeding army vehicle, a priest from the minority Coptic community said, while an AFP correspondent saw other bodies with gunshot wounds.

Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Ahmed Tayyeb called for crisis talks between Muslim and Christian leaders later on Monday "in a bid to contain the crisis", state television said.

"A black night for Egypt's revolution," thundered the independent daily al-Shorouk in its front-page headline.

The independent Al-Masry al-Youm simply wrote "Egypt", with the letters bleeding into pictures of clashes and destruction in central Cairo.

Some warned of an all-out civil war if the root causes of the clashes were not addressed.

"There needs to be serious action from the leaders to resolve the root causes. Otherwise this could lead to civil war," said Fuad Allam, who headed Egypt's security services for two decades.

He told Al-Arabiya satellite television that discriminatory religious laws had to be amended.

But others say the clashes were not merely sectarian in nature, but fuelled by the anger towards security services and the ruling military council.

Some activists blamed government-backed provocation for the bloodshed which has triggered fears of worsening sectarian strife.

Users of social networking sites such as Twitter said the earlier clashes were provoked by "thugs" at the scene, while state television was accused of fanning anti-Coptic sentiment.

As the military police gave assurances that calm had returned to the capital, Sharaf warned on public television that Egypt was "in danger" following the most serious clashes since Mubarak was ousted in February.

Sharaf, appointed by the military council that took power after mass protests led to Mubarak's downfall, heads a caretaker government ahead of elections the council has pledged will be democratic.

A 2:00 am (0000 GMT) to 7:00 am curfew was declared in the area from Maspero to Abbassiya Square, while security was stepped up around parliament and other official buildings in central Cairo.

"These events have brought us backwards... instead of moving forward to construct a modern state on a healthy democratic basis," Sharaf said.

The protesters clashed with anti-riot police and soldiers guarding the state television building, after thousands took part in a protest march from the Shobra district.

A standoff degenerated as the demonstrators started hurling stones and set fire to two cars, an AFP correspondent said. The television channel said that an army vehicle was burnt.

Security forces fired into the air to disperse the crowd, and dozens of people fled.

"Down with the marshal," the demonstrators chanted on the march to Maspero, referring to Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, who heads the military council.

On Sunday night, amid scenes of mayhem at the hospital which was filled with grieving relatives, a priest named Daud told AFP at least five of those killed were mowed down by an army vehicle.

Other bodies bore gunshot wounds.

State television reported that three soldiers were shot dead and dozens of their comrades wounded.

Later on Sunday night, hundreds of Muslims and Coptic Christians exchanged blows and threw stones at the hospital treating the wounded from the earlier clashes, an AFP journalist witnessed.

The hospital mortuary housed the bodies of those killed.

Copts complain of systematic discrimination, but since Mubarak's fall, tensions have also mounted between the military -- initially hailed for not siding with Mubarak -- and groups that spearheaded the revolt, which say the army is reluctant to carry out genuine reforms.