Protests and confrontations continued on Sunday night around the Alexandria church of St. Mark and St. Peter, where a bomb attack took the lives of 21 people on New Year's eve. At 3 PM on Sunday, ten angry Coptic Christians gathered in one of the streets behind the church after Copts attempted to enter the church and were prevented from doing so by security. Emad Saleeb, a Coptic 25-year-old man, said he had been standing for three hours trying to convince the police to let him into the church. "They were lying to me, saying there was nobody in the church, but my friends told me a funeral prayer for three people would be held soon in the church," he said angrily. Later in the evening, hundreds of Copts arrived at the street belonging to the church and clashed with security forces as they tried to enter the church. Police pursued some, who ran to the corniche and blocked a main road for 15 minutes. Some protestors, including relatives of the victims, voiced criticisms of President Hosni Mubarak. Wagdy, a 35-year-old protestor, encouraged fellow Copts to protest and unite during their gathering in front of the church. He told Al-Masry Al-Youm that the government intends to close the issue without investigation by saying the blasts were caused by a suicide bomber. Earlier on Saturday, a release by the Ministry of Interior suggested that the blasts were perpetrated by a suicide bomber since there were no clear signs of the bomb originating from a car. A separate group of protestors including Muslims chanted in the same location slogans such as, “The crescent will live next to the cross.” Some Copts told Al-Masry Al-Youm that security had orchestrated these Muslim protests to silence the voices of Christians. Awad Ibrahim, 17, was part of the protest and told Al-Masry Al-Youm that a policeman had asked him to join the protest and participate in the chanting. Al-Sayed Mabad, a member of the ruling National Democratic Party in Alexandria, said he had joined the protest as a concerned citizen, advocating the importance of unity between Muslims and Christians. At some point, Coptic protestors chanted loudly, “With our soul and blood, we will defend our cross.” Muslim protestors responded, “With our soul and blood, we will defend our prophet.” When security forces forced the Muslim protestors to leave the street belonging to the church they moved to a nearby street and carried on their chants. “Get them out,” shouted Muslim protesters, referring to the Copts gathering around the church. The police attempted to disperse the Muslim protest, but the protesters threw stones at them. The police then used tear gas and an armored vehicle to put down the demonstration.
