Excerpts from Books and Wikipedia
"The completion of the Suez Canal in 1869 increased Anglo-French interest in Egypt, and Arabi Pasha rose to power as a reaction to foreign influence. In 1882, Arabi's militia occupied the ancient port of Alexandria and reinforced the city's forts as an Anglo-French fleet sailed into the harbor, which exacerbated tensions, and in bloody riots in June, Muslim mobs attacked Christian areas of the city, killing more than 50 Europeans and 125 Egyptians. Britain's Admiral Beauchamp Seymour demanded the Egyptians cease fortifying the city or be bombarded. The French took no part in the subsequent fighting. No response received, the British fired on the forts on July 7. Some 700 Egyptians were killed as well as one British officer. The forts were damaged and surrounding areas reduced to rubble. Egyptians retaliated by burning down the city's foreign quarters. The British landed and established martial law, the prelude to General Garnet Wolseley's defeat of Arabi Pasha at the Battle of Tel-al-Kebir, and the declaration of a British protectorate over Egypt." [Furtado: 1001 Days]