WATANI International
9 March 2011
At least five Copts were killed and some 50 Copts and
Muslims injured during Muslim Coptic clashes with firearms in the area of
Manshiyet Nasser and Sayeda Aisha near Muqattam, east of
The Copts were protesting against the torching and
demolition of the
of
usurpation of the land which the Muslims vowed to build a mosque upon. The protests spilled out on the highway and
led to verbal clashes with Muslims, which later turned violent. Passing
vehicles were attacked and their drivers terrorised, and the road turned into a
battlefield.
The Muslims later mounted the Muqattam plateau and
attacked the Copts who live further downhill at Manshiyet Nasser—the famous
collectors—with Molotov cocktails, and firearms, while the Armed Forces fired
in the air in a failed attempt to control the matter.
According to Fr Botrous Rushdi, a priest at the church
in Muqattam, the losses amounted to some 15 Coptic-owned houses and workshops burnt.
The figures of the dead and injured are not final.