Egypt said on Sunday that it will use an "iron hand" to protect national security and will use anti-terror laws against those sowing unrest

Egypt said on Sunday that it will use an "iron hand" to protect national security and will use anti-terror laws against those sowing unrest, following deadly sectarian clashes in Cairo.
  
Authorities will "strike with an iron hand all those who seek to tamper with the nation's security," Justice Minister Abdel Aziz al-Gindi told reporters after cabinet crisis talks. Gindi said the government would "immediately and firmly implement the laws that criminalize attacks against places of worship and freedom of belief" and will use anti-terror laws to combat those "threatening national security."
  
The clashes in the working class neighborhood of Imbaba, in northwestern Cairo, on Saturday left 12 people dead and 232 injured, state television said. Among those killed were four Christians and six Muslims, while the two other bodies were still unidentified.

Gindi blamed the events on a "counter-revolution" -- which the government has repeatedly said is being orchestrated by remnants of the Mubarak regime-- for stirring unrest in the country.
  
"Egypt's people, the noble police and the great army are standing together today to foil the counter-revolution," Gindi said. He said that laws criminalizing attacks on national unity "face severe punishment and can lead to a death sentence." "The government will be using the regular law, not exceptional laws and not the emergency law," said Gindi.

Egypt's Prime Minister Essam Sharaf had called an urgent cabinet meeting Sunday and postponed a Gulf visit after the clashes, state media said.