CAIRO - Eight Egyptian rioters, affiliated to a youth group calling for reform, will stand an urgent trial Thursday for harassing policemen, destroying cars and jeopardising public security during a protest against a New Year's Eve bombing in Alexandria that killed at least 21 Copts. "Prosecutor General Abdel Meguid Mahmoud referred eight young people to the trial for rioting in the middle-class area of Shubra," read a statement by the chief prosecutor's office. The statement added that the first hearing would be Thursday. The eight suspects, all Muslims from the April 6th Youth Movement, were among three thousands of Coptic and Muslim protesters who were expressing their anger against the Al-Qiddissein (The Two Saints) Church in Alexandria, when they were arrested. "They are suspected of stoning and injuring 19 policemen and destroying 21 cars in the Shubra protest late on Monday," the statement added. Dozens of members of the April 6th Youth Movement, a group formed on the Internet to call for strike in 2008, protested outside the offices of the Prosecutor General in downtown Cairo against the arrest of their colleagues. "The eight arrested youth were raising banners rallying for national unity. They were showing solidarity to their Coptic brethren," said a statement released by the group. Protests had broken out in Christian areas of Egypt since the bombing outside the Alexandria church. But security forces beefed up their presence Tuesday in Shubra and Alexandria. Hundreds of officers – outfitted in helmets with visors, body armour and carrying shields and night sticks – lined the street, leaving a path for the Shubra demonstrators to pass. Millions of people live in the Shubra neighbourhood, home to a strong Christian population.
