By Yasmine Saleh, Sarah Mikhail

Reuters

CAIRO: Egypt stepped up security around churches in Cairo Monday after two days of clashes between minority Christians and Muslims that killed 12 people and highlighted rising interfaith tensions.
The violence that left a church wrecked by fire and more than 238 people wounded at the weekend was triggered by rumors Christians had abducted a woman who converted to Islam.
The clashes pose a challenge for Egypt’s new military rulers, under pressure to impose security and revive the ailing economy while seeking to avoid the tough security tactics against Islamists used by Hosni Mubarak.
A tight security cordon restricted access around St. Mina Church in Imbaba, the Cairo district where the clashes erupted Saturday evening and extended into Sunday. Another church, St. Mary’s, was burned.

The army has said that 190 people arrested after the clashes would be tried in military courts over the violence.
Security sources said 15 other people were detained Monday, including the alleged Muslim husband of the woman at the center of the violence, as well as a Christian coffee shop owner. Both were blamed for starting the violence.
Hundreds of Egyptians, many of them Coptic Christians, demonstrated Monday in Cairo outside the building that is headquarters for state-run TV.
The protesters criticized the army’s handling of the weekend clashes and demanded that the military ruler step down. Some stones were thrown toward the building, but the protest was largely peaceful.

“We don’t want to bury our heads in the sand,” said Rami Kamel, a Coptic protester. “The issue is bigger than rebuilding a church or arresting the culprits. This is Egypt’s fate. Is Egypt becoming a religious state or can we change course and opt for a civil state?”
In the northern city of Alexandria, dozens of Muslims and Christians gathered to condemn the Cairo violence. “It is the same play and Copts are the victims,” they chanted.
Members of Egypt’s Christian minority and even some Muslims have blamed the tensions on the emergence of Salafists, followers of a strict interpretation of Islam who were seen to have been repressed by Mubarak’s security forces.

Others believe remnants of the Mubarak regime are to blame.
“I have been living in the neighborhood all my life and I have never seen those Salafists here before,” said Sameh Samy, a 31-year-old Coptic who was inside St. Mina Church when the attacks began.
Mohammad Tarek, 20, a Muslim resident of Imbaba, said: “I think the old regime is behind this.”
Some Christians said the violence had made them consider emigrating. “There is no more opportunity for Copts especially as the authorities are leaving ignorant people to burn down churches,” said Fawzi Nabeeh, a Coptic engineer, who blamed the incident on “a rise in [Islamic] fundamentalism.”

Ali Abdel-Rahman, the governor of Cairo’s Giza region that includes Imbaba, pledged to rebuild St. Mary’s, the state news agency reported.
Christians make up about a 10th of Egypt’s 80 million people. Sectarian strife often flares over conversions, family disputes and the building of churches. Muslims and Christians made demonstrations of unity in protests that overthrew Mubarak on Feb. 11, but interfaith tensions have intensified.
The weekend clashes were Egypt’s worst interfaith violence since 13 people died March 9. That incident was prompted by the burning of a church.

Justice Minister Mohammad al-Guindy said gatherings around places of worship would be banned to prevent sectarian strife.
The Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist group widely regarded as Egypt’s best organized political force, denounced the violence.
Egypt’s highest religious authority, Al-Azhar, and the Grand Mufti have also warned against allowing strife to tear the fabric of the country.