Anger in Egypt after deadly Cairo church blast

Anger is growing in the Egyptian capital after an explosion went off near the city's main Coptic Christian cathedral, killing at least 25 worshippers, many of them women and children.


Hundreds of Christians and Muslims protested outside Cairo's St Mark's Cathedral late on Sunday, hours after the blast destroyed a female worshippers' hall at St Peter's church, which adjoins the cathedral - the seat of Egypt's Orthodox Christian church.

The church's floor was covered in pools of congealed blood and debris from shattered windows, with ball bearings, apparently used as shrapnel inside the bomb, burrowing through furniture and peppering the walls.

The angry crowd chanted slogans against President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and called for the dismissal of Magdy Abdel Ghaffar, the interior minister, who they blamed for the security failure.

"The Ministry of Interior cannot protect our churches. It is time for us to protect ourselves," one Coptic protester standing at the church's metal gate said.
 aljazeera.com
12/12/16