Financial Times FT.com

Sectarian strife: Coptic nerves frayed by tension with Islamists

By Issandr El Amrani

Published: December 15 2010 16:48 | Last updated: December 15 2010 16:48

It has been a tough year for Egypt’s Coptic community. It began with a gruesome murder outside a church on Coptic Christmas day and ended with security forces killing two men and arresting more than 160 Christians who rioted after they were prevented from converting a charity building into a church.

The summer, meanwhile, saw a war of words between bishops and Islamist intellectuals over the alleged conversion of a priest’s wife to Islam.

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