Calm returned to a village in the northwestern province of Mersa Matrouh Saturday after a controversial wall built by a church that resulted in clashes with Muslims was demolished, the province's security chief said. "Everything is under control, and calm was restored after bishop Bigmi of the Two Martyrs Church in Matrouh approved the demolition of the wall that led to the clashes," said Hussein Fekri, the chief security of the governorate Saturday. He added that the clash was the first of its kind in the governorate. Twenty-four people were injured in clashes between Christians and Muslims in the city on Friday as 20 others, both Coptic Christians and Muslims, were also arrested in Friday's unrest, according to Fekri. Fighting broke out when Muslim residents began to hurl stones at Christian construction workers building a wall around a church that would have blocked a main street. "A heavy security presence was deployed to the town and remained overnight to make sure there are no more clashes," he said. The Copts, the Middle East's largest Christian community, make up between six and 10 percent of Egypt's 80 million people but complain of alleged discrimination and harassment. In the worst sectarian attack in years, six Copts and one Muslim policeman were killed when gunmen raked worshippers emerging from a Christmas Eve service in the southern town of Nagaa Hammadi on January 6. Three people are currently on trial over the attack. Copts are considered equal to Muslims under the Egyptian Constitution but must gain permission to build churches and clearance from a governor to renovate them.
