Death Sparks Riots in Egyptian Town

CAIRO — Rioters at a town in the northern Nile Delta attacked police stations with stones, smashed shops and set fire to public buses before security forces intervened to restore calm and arrested 24 agitators, an Interior Ministry spokesman said Tuesday.

The spokesman said the disturbances Monday night in the town of Matariya, 140 miles northeast of Cairo, were sparked by the death of a suspected smuggler, fatally injured as he tried to elude police.

After his death, the unidentified man’s infuriated relatives and “other rioters” hurled stones at police stations, public buildings, shops and public transport vehicles, the spokesman said. The rioters also set fire to six public buses and a fire engine and smashed the windows of the local court, a local bank and three shops.