Cautious calm prevails outside Coptic Cathedral

A state of cautious calm prevailed Tuesday outside the Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in Cairo's district of Abbasiya after Sunday's Muslims-Copts clashes. MENA correspondent said the number of security forces in the Cathedral's surroundings were reduced. Fifteen political and revolutionary parties called for organizing a march on Tuesday from Abbasiya mosque of el-Fath to the Ittihadiya presidential palace to protest the Cathedral incidents. Abbasiya residents and mourners of five Khosous victims engaged on Sunday in clashes outside St Mark's Coptic Orthodox Cathedral after unidentified people attacked the Cathedral. Two persons were killed and 89 others injured in Abbasiya clashes, according to the Health Ministry. Khosous incidents started when an old man in his 50s asked children to stop drawing swastikas on a religious institute walls. The situation escalated quickly into a gun battle.