Coptic Christian protesters continued their week-long sit-in outside an Egyptian government building Monday despite a call by their leader to end the demonstration.

Their defiant stand comes one day after a mob of fundamentalist Muslims attacked the group, leaving 78 people injured.

The Coptic demonstrations are part of an effort to draw attention to the plight of Christians in Egypt.

Islamic militants have attacked Christian groups several times since the uprising that ousted President Hosni Mubarak.
     
Egypt's Christians say the interim government is allowing Islamic extremists attack without punishment and is failing to protect them.

"The military cannot stop these attacks and there is no political vision to deal with these types of sectarian clashes," said Emad Gad, a senior researcher at the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies in Cairo, told the Los Angeles Times.

"I'm afraid that we will see many attacks, many clashes, sectarian violence," Gad grimly predicted. "We could see blood in the Egyptian streets."