Egypt has warned of striking with an "iron hand" those who threaten the country's national security, the justice minister said Sunday, after deadly sectarian clashes that killed 12 people and injured 230, dpa reported.
The authorities would "strike with an iron hand all those who seek to tamper with national security," Justice Minister Abdel Aziz al-Gindi told reporters after an emergency cabinet meeting.
The government would immediately implement the laws that criminalize attacks on places of worship and freedom of belief, he said.
"Egypt has already become a nation in danger," said al-Gindi.
Dozens of Christians demonstrated in Cairo Sunday after clashes between Muslims and Coptic Christians. They marched towards the state television and radio building to protest the violence that targeted a church in the impoverished Imbaba neighbourhood late Saturday.
The violence had erupted between hundreds of Christians and Islamists who had marched to the church, where they believed that a young woman was being held hostage after converting to Islam.
Christian protesters and a group of Muslims hurled stones at each other. The protesters accused the army of not doing enough to protect them from the Salafists, who are Sunni-Muslim conservatives.
The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces said that 190 people arrested overnight following the clashes would face military trial.
The council, which has ruled Egypt since a popular uprising toppled former president Hosny Mubarak this year, said it would set up a committee to assess the damage from the clashes.
A curfew was imposed on the street where the church is located until noon on Monday. Security forces were deployed around all churches in the area.
Tension spread in the densely populated neighbourhood and shops were shuttered.
Coptic Christians comprise 10 to 15 per cent of the population in predominantly Muslim Egypt.
The case of two priests' wives, allegedly forcibly held by the church, has led to continuous protests by Salafists, who believe the women converted to Islam.
They have demanded the release of the two women, Camilia Shehata and Wafaa Constantine, whose whereabouts are unknown. Protesters have accused the government of returning the women to the Coptic Church to appease Christian leaders.
In March, 13 people were killed in sectarian clashes around the Cairo neighbourhood of Manshiyet Nasser after a church was torched in the village of Sol, south of the capital.
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