BICOM

At least 24 Egyptians were killed yesterday in Cairo, when Coptic Christian protesters clashed with soldiers and riot police in the city’s Tahrir Square. The Copts were protesting the destruction of a church in the southern Egyptian province of Aswan. The clashes began, according to media reports, when protestors threw stones at soldiers guarding the television building. Vehicles were set ablaze in what eyewitnesses described as some of the most violent scenes to have taken place since the ousting of President Hosni Mubarak earlier this year. A curfew was subsequently imposed on Tahrir Square and the downtown area of the city. The Egyptian Cabinet is set to hold a special session today to discuss the events.

Copts number between 10 to 15% of Egypt’s population of 80 million. Egypt has witnessed an increasing number of incidents of sectarian tension in recent months, including the burning of a church in a village south of the capital, which was followed by the deaths of 13 people in sectarian clashes. The weekend’s events are likely to increase tensions between the Copts and the country’s Muslim majority.