Hazem Beblawi announced his resignation, saying that despite having no direct involvement in the clashes, the government ultimately bore responsibility for what happened.
“The current circumstances are very difficult and require a new and different way of thinking and working,” Beblawi was quoted as saying by the official MENA news agency.
On Sunday, 25 people were killed and more than 300 injured when a protest by Coptic Christians was attacked by the army and thugs, sparking furious condemnation of the leadership’s handling of the transition from Hosni Mubarak’s rule.
Military prosecutors said they have remanded 28 people in custody — both Muslims and Christians — for 15 days pending investigations, MENA reported.
Rupert Colville, spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, expressed regret over the deaths, and urged the authorities “to ensure the impartiality and independence of any investigation undertaken into the incident.”
Political and religious leaders spent Monday in crisis talks, amid fears of widespread sectarian unrest threatening an already fragile transition.
Egypt’s Coptic Orthodox Church led by Pope Shenuda III accused “infiltrators” of triggering the street battle on the Nile water front, while the country’s top Muslim official Grand Imam Ahmed Al-Tayyeb urged the Cabinet to swiftly issue a unified law on building places of worship.
On Tuesday, leading independent daily Al-Masry Al-Youm called for the resignation of the prime minister in a front page editorial.
Meanwhile, an Egyptian military court accepted on Tuesday an appeal for a re-trial of a Coptic Christian blogger who was jailed on charges of spreading false information about the country’s military in a case that drew criticism from rights groups around the world.
Michael Nabil, 25, began a hunger strike on Aug. 23 to protest against his conviction for posting remarks saying the army tried to help quell an uprising that unseated Mubarak in Feb. 11. “With this decision ... Michael Nabil will be retried before a new panel,” the military appeals court said.
Nabil, who was arrested at his home in Cairo in March, has served five months of his three-year sentence.
Activists and rights groups say Nabil’s case highlights the army’s heavy-handed approach against dissenters who criticize top generals for using tactics reminiscent of Mubarak’s regime.
