Security forces have referred 52 suspects to the public prosecution office on charges of attacking Coptic demonstrators before the Egyptian Radio and Television Union building on the Maspero Corniche on Saturday night, injuring 78 demonstrators and burning 12 cars.
The trouble started when two young men fired bullets in the air to scare the demonstrators away. However, the demonstrators managed to catch one of the gunmen and deliver him to the military police. An hour later, a hundred other men came from the nearby Boulaq district, threw stones and Molotov cocktails at the demonstrators, fired live ammunition at them and clashed with them for five hours.
The police were reportedly late in responding to the situation.
Pope Shenouda urged the demonstrators to end their protest immediately. However, according to Metyas Nasr, pastor of the Virgin Mary Church of Ezbet al-Makhl, the demonstrators declined the pope’s request.
“They will not move before the perpetrators of the Imbaba sectarian violence are brought to trial,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Egyptian Center for Human Rights issued a statement on Sunday, requesting the dismissal of Interior Minister Mansour Essawy for “failing to restore order and allowing certain members of the old police guard to incite sectarian strife and free outlaws.”
Translated from the Arabic Edition
