CAIRO, March 16 (Reuters) – The Libyan embassy in Cairo on
Saturday suspended work for security reasons, days after
Egyptians protested in front of the building over the death of
an Egyptian Copt in Libya.
Tensions between the North African neighbours have risen
after attacks on Egyptian Coptic targets in Libya and the
burning of the Libyan flag by protesters in front of the embassy
in Cairo this week.
“The embassy suspended all its consular and citizen services
because (our) Coptic brothers demonstrated,” embassy media
adviser Abdul Hamid al-Safi told Reuters, saying such protests
could lead to problems between demonstrators and Libyans. He
said the embassy would halt work until the situation calmed.
On Thursday unknown assailants set an Egyptian Coptic church
in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi ablaze, the second attack
on the building in weeks. Gunmen had previously attacked it,
assaulting two priests.
Residents said the attack appeared to be in reaction to the
demonstration at the Libyan embassy, where apart from burning a
flag, Egyptian protesters also held aloft a cross, according to
police at the scene.
The demonstrators were protesting against the death of an
Egyptian Copt in an explosion in front of a church in Libya a
month ago.
Libya’s small Christian community has expressed fears over
Islamist extremism and the government is struggling to impose
its authority over armed groups which have refused to lay down
their weapons since the 2011 war that toppled Muammar Gaddafi.
In December, an explosion at a building belonging to a
Coptic church in Dafniya, close to the western city of Misrata,
killed two Egyptian men and wounded two others.
(Reporting by Ayman Samir; Writing by Sylvia Westall; Editing
by Stephen Powell)
