Egyptian authorities have arrested more than 50 people involved in riots against a church in Alexandria. The demonstrators accused the church of staging what they understood as an anti-Islamic play.
The St. George Church in Egypt’s Alexandria has been the focal point of mass protests over the past week after it was reported that a DVD was distributed, containing the filming of a play which was staged at the church two years ago.
The play tells the story of a Copt who is drawn to Muslim radicals who then try to kill him.
Muslims said the play is offensive to Islam, but church officials said it describes the dangers of radicalism in general and stress it is not offensive to Islam.
A Muslim, apparently angered by the reports, stabbed a nun in the church last Wednesday, together with a man who tried to come to her aid.
Three people were killed and dozens injured in riots outside the Coptic church on Friday.
Sources from the Egyptian security services have accused religious elements of using this recent flare-up for electoral gains.
Meanwhile, head of Cairo’s prestigious Al-Azhar University , Sheikh Muhammad Sayid Tantawi, urged Egyptians to maintain calm and to avoid behavior which will damage Egypt’s reputation.
He said the judicial authorities should be left to investigate the violent clashes.
Coptic Christians constitute less than six percent of Egypt’s 77 million inhabitants. The remainder are mostly Sunni Muslims.