Readers' corner:

---

For one per cent

Sir-- Yet another country with a government that has no legitimacy with its people, just as most Western governments have lost contact with their population in the quest to appease the elite one per cent.

Roland Stafford
Florida
USA

Under our sun

Sir-- I bet none of you Islam haters are too worried about the terrible Muslims when you are lapping up the sun in Dubai, Morocco and Tunisia.

Mohamed Ibrahim
Cairo
Egypt

Stop the aid

Sir-- Where is Barack Obama? It is high time that America condemns the brutal suppression of Christian Coptics by the police who apparently used live bullets. America should cut all aid until the perpetrators of this heinous killings are brought to justice by the Egyptian administration.

Michael Cagle
Washington
USA

Looks similar

Sir-- "The violence later spread to 300 villages in 14 of the 30 districts in the state, resulting in 4,400 burnt houses and 50,000 homeless. Fifty-nine people were killed, while 18,000 were injured."

Two years ago. Location India. Hindus against Christians.

Claudia Barrett
Washington
USA

Without hard men

Sir-- The region allows only one leader -- a hard man, a controller of all things. Saddam, Mubarak et al were exactly that, hard men. Take them away and chaos ensues. Libya will be next, then Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen. We in the West must learn and stop interfering in other countries' affairs.

Gregory Mofet
California
USA

A set-up

Sir-- This is a blatant plot. I mean, we were just protesting with Coptics last week.

One would also notice that similar incidents occurred just after the revolution, when the situation was very unstable and not clear, a perfect timing and desperate attempt to turn things around. Between that and the current issue is a significant time gap. Too much for sectarian clashes. Plus, we have not had that frequent number of clashes in the streets as typical of many sectarian nations.

That does not deny we have a weak point for inciting disorder. Whoever is using, it will be to their advantage as protests by Coptics will bring about other demands which will all spill into diverting our attention from converting Egypt into a civilian nation rather than a military one.

The revolution has risen with the unity of all sects. So I do not buy what happened in front of Maspero.

Mohamed Moussa
Cairo
Egypt

Sequence of events

Sir-- So let us track the events that have been occurring lately. So, first the inexplicable destruction of a church in Edfu, then Imbaba, then killings of Copts in downtown Cairo which obviously resulted in mass anger among the Coptic population and which by chance comes at the time of parliamentary candidacy applications in preparation for the coming election. What a coincidence.

Ahmed Sherif
Cairo
USA

Iran and Syria

Sir-- I see the malign hand of either Iran or Syria here. Neither of these countries is enjoying the Arab Spring very much. Of course the ruling elite, who weren't deposed alongside Mubarak, might also be trying to stir up trouble, too.

Jim Oliphant
Washington
USA