Egypt detains ‘mastermind’ behind Cairo sectarian clashes

Egyptian authorities have arrested the “mastermind” behind the sectarian violence in Cairo that killed 12 people, the cabinet said.

“The interior ministry has arrested the mastermind behind the clashes between Muslims and Christians in Imbaba,” the cabinet said on its Facebook page late on Monday, without identifying the person.

The authorities also detained another 14 people in connection with the deadly clashes, it said, bringing the total number of arrests to 205, according to Agence-France Presse.

Around 1,000 Copts continued a sit-in in front of the state television headquarters for a third straight day on Tuesday to protest against sectarian violence and to demand protection.

Some pitching tents, others keeping warm under blankets, the protesters have vowed not to leave until their demands are met.

Fierce clashes broke out Saturday between Christians and Muslims in northwest Cairo's working-class district of Imbaba which also left scores injured and a church ablaze.

Six Muslims and four Christians were among the 12 dead, while two bodies were not identified.

The two groups clashed after Muslims attacked the Coptic church of Saint Mena in Imbaba to free a Christian woman they alleged was being held against her will because she wanted to convert to Islam, AFP reported.

The military council governing Egypt since a popular uprising forced former president Hosni Mubarak to step down on February 11 admitted that the latest flare-ups in the country represent a “counter-revolution” by old regime diehards aimed at sowing chaos.

Copts, who account for up to 10 percent of the country's 85 million people, complain of discrimination and have been the targets of fairly regular sectarian attacks.

Claims that Christian women who converted to Islam were kidnapped and held in churches or monasteries have soured relations between the two communities for months.

The deadly Muslim-Christian riots magnified worries in Egypt over Islamic ultraconservatives who have grown more assertive since the fall of Mr. Mubarak. Egypt's military rulers are stumbling over how to deal with them, reluctant to crack down and spark a backlash.

The clashes were rooted in a personal dispute. A Christian woman, identified as Abeer Fakhry, had an affair with a Muslim man. And when she disappeared, the man spread rumors that Christian clergy had snatched her and were holding her prisoner in the church because she converted to Islam, security officials said Monday, according to The Associated Press.

That brought out a mob of Muslims, led by members of the fundamental movement known as Salafis, who attacked the church late Saturday and caused the drama that also left 200 people injured.

The escalation of a household drama into a national crisis reflected the stormy politics shaking Egypt at a fragile time. The former president's authoritarian rule kept an uneasy lid on sectarian tensions, but they have now been given a freer rein since his ouster.

Most worrying for Christians and many Muslims is the increasing boldness of the Salafi movement.

Salafis and Christians have traded blame for Saturday's violence, with Salafis insisting that they only wanted to free the “imprisoned” woman and claiming Christians started the shooting.

But for the past year, Salafis have been stoking rhetoric against Egypt's mostly Coptic Christians as a way to rally their base.

Salafis regularly stage protests demanding the Coptic Church release the wives of two priests the Islamists say converted to Islam, and Salafis were prominent in mass demonstrations in the country's south against the appointment last month of a Coptic governor.

Last week, hundreds of Salafis also protested outside Cairo's American embassy at the death of Osama bin Laden, the AP reported.

(Abeer Tayel of Al Arabiya can be reached at [email protected])