CAIRO - Prosecutor General Abdel Meguid Mahmoud ordered the release of the last 23 Coptic defendants who were arrested after clashes with police during a protest in late November in Omraniya, Giza, south of Cairo. "The Chief Prosecutor ordered the release of the final group of Copts detained over the Omraniya rioting," a judicial source said. The decision follows a memorandum that was filed by lawyers of the defendants. Clashes erupted last November as security forces attempted to demolish a building inside the Virgin Mary and Archangel Michael Church in Al- Omraneya, saying an unlicensed church was being built instead of a service facility. Two Copts were killed in the clashes, and dozens from both sides were injured. Police arrested scores of Copts as a result of the clashes, 14 of whom were accused of public property vandalism and the attempted murder of the assistant director of the Giza security forces.
