TIGHT SECURITY

On Saturday the situation was calm but tense in the small town where Muslims and Christians live close to each other but in separate streets. Security was tight with police vehicles parked in the main streets.

Police detained 15 people, a security source said.

In a Christian neighbourhood dozens of angry young men gathered at noon on Saturday, chanting "with our blood and soul we sacrifice ourselves for the cross". The crowds left after a priest came and asked them to leave to calm tensions.

"There are people who want to cause sectarian strife between Muslims and Christians," said a Christian man who gave his name as Kameel. "I've been here longer than 30 years and I have never seen any violence or extremism in our area."  

Sectarian tensions have often flared into violence, particularly in rural areas where rivalries between clans or families sometimes add to friction. Love affairs between Muslims and Christians have also sparked clashed in the past.

Since Mubarak was ousted by a popular uprising, Christians have complained of several attacks on churches by radical Islamists, incidents that have sharpened longstanding Christian complaints about being sidelined in the workplace and in law.

As an example, they point to rules that make it harder to obtain official permission to build a church than a mosque.

Last month, a court sentenced a Muslim to death for killing two people in a dispute with Christians in a southern town.

In October 2011, 25 people, most of them Coptic demonstrators, were killed in clashes with troops in Cairo.