(MSNBC) — Egypt’s prime minister called an emergency cabinet meeting on Sunday after 10 people died in bloody clashes in a Cairo suburb over the conversion of a Christian woman to Islam.

About 500 conservative Islamists known as Salafists massed outside the Saint Mina Church in the Cairo suburb of Imbaba on Saturday demanding Christians there hand over a woman they said had converted to Islam and was being held against her will.

The Salafists were joined by other Muslims who demanded access to the church to see if she was inside. Tensions flared, gunfire broke out and the two sides threw firebombs and stones.

Soldiers and police fired shots in the air and used teargas to separate the two sides but stone-throwing skirmishes went on through the night in streets near the church.

A power cut plunged the neighborhood into darkness, making it harder for the security forces to quell the violence.

Another church nearby, Saint Mary’s, was set on fire and badly damaged in the overnight clashes.