Lebanon's resistance movement, Hezbollah, has accused the United States of orchestrating recent wave of sectarian violence in Egypt.
Violence erupted in Cairo on Sunday as some 10,000 Coptic Christians gathered outside the Egyptian state television building to protest the destruction of a church in southern Egypt. Clashes broke out when the demonstrators started hurling stones and petrol bombs at police officers and set fire to their cars, witnesses said.
Hezbollah said in a statement that the clashes were part of an American project to “divide the Middle East based on religious and racial differences.”
The Lebanese movement called on Egyptians to be vigilant and try to resolve their problems through negotiations.
The death toll from the clashes has risen to 36, with more than 320 people reported injured, Al-Arabiya TV Channel said on Monday citing the country's Health Ministry.
Discrimination against Copts, who make up about 10 percent of the population of Egypt, had been encouraged by the government of former president Hosni Mubarak, according to a U.S. State Department report on religious freedom published last year. Some Christians say this policy has continued under the military council which took power after Mubarak was ousted in February.
