Egypt (and Beyond) Live: President Condemns Sectarian Violence
Monday, April 8, 2013 at 8:05
Scott Lucas in EA Live, EA Middle East and Turkey, Egypt, Ilker Basbug, Middle East and Iran, Mohamed Morsi, Turkey


1215 GMT: Turkey. Police have fired water cannon, tear gas, and pepper spray in clashes with thousands of activists protesting in support of 275 people accused of plotting to topple the Government.

Defendants in the trial of the "Ergenekon" group, an alleged underground network of secular arch-nationalists, were expected to begin their final defences on Monday. Prosecutors last month demanded life sentences for 64 of them.

Retired armed forces commander Ilker Basbug is among the defendants, accused of attempting to stage a coup against Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's administration.

Demonstrators outside the court at the high-security Silivri jail near Istanbul waved Turkish flags and banners of left-wing and nationalist groups as they fought to break through police barriers.

0805 GMT: Egypt. President Morsi has condemned  clashes at the Cairo headquarters of the Coptic Christian pope as "an attack against myself", ordering an enquiry.

At least one person was reportedly killed and 17 wounded in fighting, as riot police fired tear gas to disperse the crowd.

On Friday, four Christians and one Muslim were killed in El Khusus, near Cairo, after anger rose over graffiti daubed on the wall of a mosque. 

Clashes erupt yesterday after  hundreds of Copts who had attended a funeral service at St Mark's Cathedral spilled out into the streets of Cairo, chanting, "With our blood and soul, we will sacrifice ourselves for the cross."

A withness said protesters hurled rocks at police officers and smashed six private cars, setting two on fire, prompting an angry reaction from Muslims living in the neighbourhood.

The Coptic Church issued a statement on Sunday night calling for calm and expressing sorrow for the clashes.

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