Clashes follow Coptic funeral

CAIRO: Clashes broke out yesterday outside the Egyptian capital’s Coptic cathedral after funeral prayers were held for four Christians killed in sectarian clashes, witnesses said.
They said the mourners who were chanting against the ruling Muslim Brotherhood were pelted with stones as they came out of the cathedral.
In a statement, the Interior Ministry said “a number of mourners began to damage cars in the area which led to confrontations with residents of the area.”
Television footage showed scenes of chaos outside the cathedral in Abbassiya where Coptic bishops had been calling for peace and calm after the killing of the Christians on Friday. Loud bangs could be heard, as clouds of smoke rose up into the sky and people ran in several directions.
At the service, the congregation chanted against the Muslim Brotherhood of President Muhammad Mursi. “Leave!” they told Mursi as they held up wooden crosses, television footage showed. One Muslim was also killed in the clashes which flared on Friday night in Al-Khusus, a poor area in Qalyubia governorate, after a Muslim in his 50s objected to children drawing a swastika on a religious institute.