Two Coptic Christian boys have been put in juvenile detention after locals accused them of urinating on pages of the Islamic holy book, an Islamic cleric and prosecutors said Wednesday, in the latest in a series of legal cases in Egypt against alleged contempt of religion.

Accusations of insulting Islam have increased in Egypt — particularly against Christians — since last month's fury over an anti-Islam film produced in the United States. Such cases occurred in the past, but the flurry to prosecute in recent weeks has raised concerns over freedom of speech and over the power of ultraconservative Islamists in the country.

The incident with the two boys took place in the village of Ezbet Marco in the southern province of Beni Suef. Sheik Gamal Shamardal, a Muslim cleric and the local leader of a hardline Islamist group, said residents saw the boys bring pages of the Quran behind a local mosque and urinate on them. Police arrested the boys and a crowd of angry residents gathered outside the police station. Fearing violence, security forces have surrounded the village and the boys were taken to a juvenile detention facility.

Police officials confirmed that the complaint was made and said they were investigating to determine what happened. Local security chief Attiya Mazrou told The Associated Press the boys were caught with the tarnished pages of the Quran with them, but no one saw them urinate it.

"They could have found them that way. We don't know. No one saw them do it," he said. The boys are to appear before prosecutors again Sunday.

In a sign of the broader tensions that surround such cases and the increasing powers of the Islamists, Shamardal insisted the two boys could not have acted alone and said they must remain in custody until they confess who incited them. That was the only way to calm offended Muslims, he said.

"An apology is not acceptable," said Shamardal, head of the local branch of Gamaa Islamiya, which was once Egypt's largest militant group but has since renounced violence. He speculated over a wider conspiracy behind the incident — ranging from the local priest to Coptic Christians living abroad.

The priest, he said, refused to discipline the children when told of the incident, forcing the residents to turn to the authorities. "He just dismissed it as children's play," Shamardal said. "But this feels like it was arranged" to incite religious anger.

"There was a lot of anger particularly with the circumstances the country is going through after the film," he said. "It was like spilling oil on fire."

AP