CAIRO - Egypt's Prosecutor General Abdel Meguid Mahmoud Saturday released 19 Copts, who were detained after rioting against halting the construction of an unlicensed church in Giza last month, reducing the number of detainees to 23 from a total of 154. "Nineteen Copt detainees were released due to their humanitarian and social circumstances. Most of them are students preparaing for mid-year exams," read a statement from Mahmoud's office. It added that some of the arrests were unjustified. Last Sunday, Mahmoud released 42 of the Coptic detainees after 76 others were released two weeks ago. Around 154 Christians were arrested following clashes between police and Copts who rioted last month over a municipal council decision to halt the construction of a church in the middle-class district of Omraniya, Giza. The detainees were accused of participating in mob violence, damaging private and public property, obstructing traffic, stopping public institutions from conducting their work, attacking security forces and throwing explosives. According to a technical report provided to the prosecution, Molotov cocktails were used during the riots, which broke out on November 24 and left two Copts dead. In his latest two sermons, Pope Shenouda, the head of the coptic Chruch in Egypt, was quoted as aying that the Coptic blood was not cheap, in reference to two demonstrators who were shot dead during the violence over the church construction, which also left dozens policemen injured. On Sunday, Shenouda, who had gone into retreat from public life following incidences of clashes involving Christians in the nation, ended his 'solitary period of contemplation' after an influential parliamentarian visited him in a northern monastery. He later had a meeting with President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo. Some hardline Christians called on the Pontiff to cancel the Christmas celebration until after the church detainees are released. Egyptian Christians, known throughout history as Copts, are the largest Christian minority in north Africa constituting around 10 per cent of the country's 80 million population.