Posted on 04/07/2013 9:54:48 AM PDT by annalex
CAIRO, April 7 (Xinhua) -- At least 21 were injured in clashes that erupted Sunday outside Egypt's main church in Cairo during a mass funeral of several Christians who have recently been killed in a sectarian brawl, a health ministry official told Xinhua.
"19 were treated on the spot and two were taken to nearby Demerdash Hospital," head of Egypt's Ambulance Authority Mohamed Sultan told Xinhua.
Sultan noted the injuries varied from wounds to suffocations, reaffirming no death cases were registered so far.
"Sound of gunshots from unknown sources were heard and a lot of people exchanged stone throwing outside the cathedral," an eyewitness outside Saint Mark's Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in Cairo 's Abaaseya district told Xinhua.
The eyewitness added that security forces rushed to the scene to secure and used tear gas bombs to disperse the fighting crowds.
The Coptic funeral procession was held for four Christian victims who were killed in overnight fight that went on from Friday evening until Saturday morning after some Christian children allegedly drew crosses on a wall of an Islamic institute in Khosoos town of Qalyubiya, near the capital Cairo, leading to the tragic confrontations.
Contradictory reports were issued about the death toll of Friday night's brawl, as some official sources said four Copts and one Muslim were killed while state-run Al-Ahram news website said the victim were seven Copts and one Muslim.
Some twenty others from the two fighting families were injured and fifteen outlaws were arrested on the scene, a source said, adding that the security forces managed to stop some Muslims who attempted to set fire to the house of the Copt accused of killing the Muslim.
Some angry Muslims also set fire to a nearby Anglican church and an attached nursery during the quarrel, Soryal Yonan, an archpriest of Mar Girigis Church in Khosoos told Xinhua.
We give money to these vandals.
“Sectarian brawl” indeed. Muslim attack on Christians, but of course we can’t say that, can we.
Can’t we just put up a wall around the middle-east, sever all relations and let nature take its course?
This is a shameful betrayal of fellow Christians face to face with Islamic brutality, — which, moreover, we ourselves foment with our policies.
If we want to keep the last remnant of Christian Civilization that once shaped us, we cannot.
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