CAIRO (Reuters) ? At least seven people were injured in Cairo on Thursday when residents clashed with a group of Christians marching through the capital to demand an end to what they see as discrimination by the state, a security source said.
The Coptic Christians were marching from Cairo's northern Shoubra suburb toward the landmark Tahrir Square in the city center when the clashes broke out.
"But the locals in the neighborhood of Bulak attacked the group on their way to the square and threw stones at them," the security source said.
The marchers scattered after the attack. Riot police arrived and a priest asked the protesters to disperse, saying the army had sealed off the city center near Tahrir and the march could not go ahead.
"We were attacked by the residents nearby ... And I saw two demonstrators injured," said Christian protester Rizk Samir.
Some young Christian men said they would gather again next to the state television building in an area known as Maspero near Tahrir. At least 25 people were killed in Maspero on the night of October 9 when Christian protesters clashed with the army.
It was the deadliest in a series of bloody sectarian clashes
that have left more than 40 dead and thousands injured since a popular uprising overthrew President Hosni Mubarak in February.
Christians, who make up about 10 percent of Egypt's 80 million people, have long complained of barriers to the construction of churches, court verdicts that favor Muslims and what they see as the growing influence of Islamists who were suppressed during Mubarak's 30-year rule.
(Reporting by Tamim Elyan Writing by Yasmine Saleh; Editing by Sophie Hares)
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