3 killed, 80 injured in Alexandria church demonstrations

Three demonstrators were killed and other 80 injured, including 20 policemen, in bloody confrontations erupted on Friday in the Egyptian city of Alexandria when some 4,000 Muslim demonstrators tried to break into the church of Saint Georges in Mahram Beck quarters in Alexandria, in protest of a play that they considered as insulting for Islam.

While the pace of tension increased around the church, the police forces tightened security measures in all streets leading to it, and certain leaders hurried to explain the situation to the demonstrators.

Al-Jazeera satellite TV said that the situation is headed for more tension, unless the church apologizes for Muslims as demanded by demonstrators.

The correspondent reported that the police used tear gas to disperse the demonstrators who have been protesting since one week for displaying the play inside the church two years ago on which they said included insults to Islam and to prophet Muhammad.

He said that the demonstrators tried in the beginning to break into the church, but the police forces prevented their access to the church.

The demonstrators demand the apology from Pope Shenouda III and punishing those who did this act.

The demonstrators threw stones at the police when it tried to disperse them by throwing tear gas and this resulted in injuring scores of demonstrators and others fainted. Several ambulances roamed the Mahran Beck quarters where the demonstrator was organized.

In the course of the bloody events on Alexandria events, one young Muslim on Wednesday tried to stab a nun in front of the church, but she had only slight injuries while one police man in the street was injured as a result of chasing the attacker.

The ministry said that it noted that the criminal was outraged over what was published that the church displayed a play insulting for Islam.

Thousands of Muslims called on the church last week to give an apology, but the local council for the Copts - Orthodox said that the play had nothing in it that is insulting to Islam.

Worthy mentioning that the Cairo weekly al-Osbo published details on the scenario of the play which talks about "a young Christian who embraced Islam through one of the extremist groups which treated his as second class person, and as a result he was obliged to flee away back to the church to be later convicted by the "extremist" group.

On Friday, Egypt's Ministry of Interior released a statement on the events. The statement said that police officials attempted to end the demonstration peacefully and appealed to demonstrators to recognize that their actions were not in line with the views of Egyptians, Muslims or Copts, and their religious leadership.

"After radical elements in the crowd insisted on escalating the situation, driving demonstrators back to the church after the evening prayer and setting fire to commercial establishments in the area, security forces were obliged to deal with the situation and use tear gas to disperse the crowd," the statement added.

The Ministry stated that the crowd was dispersed at 6pm and that 53 persons were arrested and transferred to the office of the district attorney for questioning.

The Ministry's statement added that one civilian was killed in the confrontations, and that 20 police officers, in addition to one commanding officer, as well as 25 demonstrators were wounded.

The Ministry also noted that a civilian truck and a police car were burned. In addition, two police cars were damaged in the course of events.