Sectarian Violence in Imbaba Leaves 15 Dead


In another case of violence resulting from Muslim protestors seeking Christians rumored to be converts to Islam, a deadly clash in Cairo’s Imbaba neighborhood resulted in 15 deaths and over 200 people injured. The altercation began when “over 500 local Muslims converged outside the Church of Mar Mina” in search of a woman who supposedly wanted to convert to Islam. The group was prevented from searching the Church for the woman, and the situation escalated when, according to some witnesses, “a local Christian began shooting.” Others, however, suggested that the Muslim protesters began the shooting; a fact-finding commission later reported evidence of gunfire from both sides. By the time authorities had intervened, a different church was destroyed and the Mar Mina Church was damaged. The same fact-finding commission would later indicate that a group of “thugs,” distinct from the people who initially sought the rumored captive, was responsible for burning the second church.