Eight people were injured during a clash between Muslims and Christians in the northern port city of Alexandria over extension work to a church, police said Wednesday.
The fight broke out late Monday in the eastside Kurshid quarter of the city when Muslims finished evening prayers in a mosque and headed for a nearby church to stop extension work there.
Three Coptic Christians and five Muslims were injured, mostly with stab wounds.
The Interior Ministry had ordered a stop on the work but the Christian Coptic community had not been told, the source said.
Under a law going back to the days of the Ottoman empire, still in force in Egypt, any building of a new church or extension of a Christian faith center must be approved by the interior ministry.
However, most of the time agreement is reached amicably between the eastern Christian Coptic church and the local authorities for building work on churches -- CAIRO (AFP)
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