Recent visits by a Coptic priest to one man’s home in a village outside Alexandria gave locals reason to think a Christian place of worship was springing up in their midst. On Friday 17 June, after the Muslim noon prayers, angry worshippers gathered outside the home of Naim Aziz Moussa, after word had spread that the local Christian was turning his house into a ‘church’. It has often proved legally impossible to issue church building permits in the country, a sore point for Coptic Christians, and the nearest church is over five km away. At least two homes, including Moussa’s, suffered extensive damage, and ten Christian homes were looted.