Special security plans have been developed to protect Coptic Christians during their upcoming Christmas celebration Jan. 7. According to Agenzia Fides, Egyptian Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim assembled a meeting Dec. 28 to discuss security, and “the plan provides for the distribution of patrols in the vicinity of places of worship and in some cases blocking traffic in the areas around the churches.”
In 2011, a car bomb killed 21 people in front of a church in Alexandria on New Year’s Eve.