Egypt LiveBlog: Latest on the Alexandria Bomb and Protests

2240 GMT: Youm7 is claiming that four security officers and 38 enlisted personnel were injured today during protests.

2215 GMT: Al Masry Al Youm has a brief account of today's protest in Alexandria:

Hundreds of Copts on Sunday staged demonstrations in Alexandria outside the St. Mark and St. Peter Church after security forces prevented them from entering the church.

Eyewitnesses said demonstrators blocked the corniche for ten minutes before security forces managed to disperse them.

They broke storefronts belonging to Muslims, and the police managed to foil their attempts to clash with passersby.

Eyewitnesses added that the authorities places a tight security cordon around the church, as well as concrete barricades to keep traffic from the surrounding area.

Video: Today's Protests in Cairo

Special Analysis: The Lessons and Challenges Behind the Alexandria Bombing
Video and Pictures: The Alexandria Bombing and Demonstrations
EARLIER: "Up to 50" Killed in Bombing of Alexandria Church
EARLIER: Egypt Breaking: 21 Killed in Car Bomb Attack on Christian Church 

2005 GMT: Al Masry Al Youm has a report on this afternoon's protests in Cairo, describing hundreds of Coptic demonstrators who chanted, “I will keep on praying, whatever happens.”

There are cautious references to clashes with police:

Protesters repeatedly attempted to break through a security cordon with the aim of continuing their march along the corniche, but were quickly contained by police after a brief round of stone throwing. In Talaat Harb Square, scores gathered to protest the church attack, but were quickly stopped by security forces. Protestors and journalists, including Al-Masry Al-Youm’s reporter, were harassed by police and briefly detained.

The newspaper also reports a Coptic protest at the Abbasseya cathedral over a visit by the grand sheikh and mufti of Al-Azhar.

1810 GMT: In Alexandria, with heightened security around the site of Saturday's attack near the Al-Qiddissine church, Al Jazeera's Ayman Mohyeldin says police have "threatened to break our equipment and punch cameraman if we don't leave church area immediately".

1800 GMT: Protests appear to be escalating in Cairo, both over the Alexandria attack and in sympathy with economic demonstrations in Tunisia, as reports come in of clashes and injuries:

1645 GMT: Pictures tonight of demonstrations:

1515 GMT: The Salafist Call in Alexandria has condemned Saturday's attack as a “source of evil and corruption” for society: “The Islamic approach we adopt opens up the path to God through logic and good advice. It rejects the use of violence that only serve the interests of people bent on damaging Egypt."

1315 GMT: An EA correspondent checks in....

The Coptic site copts.com, set up in the US, was disabled last night. The Arabic section is up this morning, but the English section is unavailable. Site owners have confirmed reports of hacking.

Coptic TV continues to show interviews with doctors who report on the dead and wounded. They say the official toll of 83 injured does not include those with "lighter" injuries who were able to go home.

Youm7 has received the threat from Al Mujahedeen, the group linked to Al Qa'eda. Roughly translated: "Convert to Islam, or we will kill you."

1140 GMT: Dozens of worshippers have attended Sunday Mass at the Al-Qiddissine church, near the site of Saturday's attack, as riot police backed by armoured vehicles were deployed outside.

Egyptian security sources say they have arrested 17 people suspected of involvement in the bombing.

1045 GMT: All schools and universities have held a minute’s silence today to mourn Saturday's victims. Teachers have "lectured on the importance of acknowledging others and highlighted the common history of both Copts and Muslims and pinpointed the mosaic culture Egypt has always been" and "professors [have] repeated the government’s assertion that “foreign hands” were responsible for such sectarian violence".

1030 GMT: Looks like the Government is making an attempt to counter criticism of inadequate security around the Al-Qiddisine church at the time of the bombing, as well as playing up the "foreign" explanation for those who carried out the attack. Shorouk News reports:

A security source says security forces dealt with warnings of al Qaeda very seriously, and there has been an intensified presence of security around churches in recent days, as evidenced by the police officers injured in [Sunday's] incident.

An EA correspondent has reported, from sources, that there was no apparent security at the back of the church when the assailants approached.

0800 GMT: Little movement overnight on Sunday's bombing of the Al-Qissidine church in Alexandria, folllowed by protests and clashes with police in Alexandria and Cairo.

An EA correspondent, drawing from sources in Egypt, continues to report that up to 50 people have been killed, but the official total remains at 21. Officials of the Coptic Christian church say the death toll is 25.

There is widespread anger amongst Christians over the slow medical response, the lack of security before the bombing, and the official explanations for the bombing. (Initial reports said a car bomb had exploded, but the Ministry of Interior later claimed that a foreign suicide bomber carried out the attack.)

Demonstrations in Alexandria after the attack were broken up by anti-riot police using rubber bullets and tear gas. An EA correspondent reports at least four protesters were seriously wounded.

Last night, a large gathering, drawn from across the political spectrum, in the Shubra neighbourhood  in Cairo chanted “Down with the sectarian state” and “Long live the Crescent with the Cross”.

Meanwhile, funerals were held in Mary Mina Monastery for 17 victims who had been identified. The dead were buried in the monastery, an hour from Alexandria, because of fear of further clashes if the service was held in the city. 

At one point, the funerals were disrupted by a loud noise. Mourners asked, "Are these bullets? Are they coming here to finish us off?”