Cairo - Egyptian authorities have arrested 42 Christian and Muslim "troublemakers" after arsonists set fire to Christian-owned property in southern Egypt, police said on Sunday.
Twenty-eight Coptic Christians and 14 Muslims were arrested after Friday's sectarian unrest in the village of Bahgura, provincial police chief Mahmud Gohar told state-run MENA news agency.
"These people were troublemakers," a security official said, adding the authorities did not differentiate between Christians and Muslims.
Eleven ships and eights houses owned by Copts were burnt in Bahgura on Friday, in the wake of a deadly drive-by shooting in the nearby town of Nagaa Hammadi on Coptic Christmas Eve.
Egyptian police on Saturday charged three men with "premeditated murder" over the killing of six Coptic Christians on Wednesday night when gunmen raked worshippers emerging from Christmas mass in Nagaa Hammadi.
Police arrested the three after the shooting outside a church in which a Muslim policeman was also killed. All three suspects are Muslims and had previous run-ins with police.
The Nagaa Hammadi attack was the deadliest since 20 Copts were killed in sectarian clashes in 2000, also in southern Egypt.
Copts, who account for up to 10% of Egypt's population of 80 million, complain of routine harassment and systematic discrimination.
On Sunday, Pope Benedict XVI condemned the murders in Nagaa Hammadi.
"The violence against Christians in certain countries has caused indignation among many people, among other reasons because it has manifested itself during the holiest days of the Christian tradition," the pope said.
