Giza security forces have arrested 35 people suspected of taking part in the sectarian-schism events in the city of Ayyat. Search is underway for 25 others in the villages surrounding the city.
Meanwhile, the security forces have blockaded streets and alleys in the village of Behma to prevent a renewal of clashes, and the Ayyat Prosecution Office ordered the arrest of 60 suspects.
Preliminary investigations showed that a 'rumor' that Christians in the village were turning a house where they used to perform their ceremonies into a church was behind Friday's violence.
The investigations said rioters used cudgels, knives and kerosene containers in the attacks on the Christians' houses following the Friday prayer. Eleven people were injured.
Al-Masry Al-Youm visited the village where 6,000 people, including 300-400 Christians, live. The village has been quiet for years, as this fight was discovered to be the first of its kind.
Sources told al-Masry al-Youm that Pope Shenouda III was mulling the issuance of a strong-worded statement in which he would condemn the incident.
Meanwhile, Ayyat's Virgin Mary Church Priest Rev. Macary Labib said that some of the injured were receiving treatment and accused the Imam of Behma's mosque of sparking this sedition.
