‘Conversion’ sparks Copt protest
Thursday December 9, 2004 Egypt
Hundreds of Egyptian Christians have been protesting at the Coptic Orthodox cathedral in Cairo. Demonstrators hurled stones at policemen after they sealed off the cathedral. The protest were provoked by rumours that the wife of a priest in a town in northern Egypt had been pressured to convert to Islam. Coptic Christians form an estimated 10% of the country’s population and often complain of discrimination. The protestors have been in the main Coptic cathedral in Cairo since Saturday. They are angry at the disappearance of the wife of a priest in a village in the Delta who is rumoured to