Clashes erupted on Sunday evening between a group of Coptic-Christian protesters and police forces outside a local church in the city of Al-Khosous in the north Cairo governorate of Qalioubiya.

The same town witnessed sectarian violence in the early hours of Saturday, before violence re-erupted following an attack on Cairo's main Coptic cathedral in which a funeral for slain Copts was being held.

Violent confrontations broke out again on Sunday evening between a group of Coptic protesters and police, according to Sorial Younan, a priest at Al-Khosous' Church of Mar Girgis.

The clashes coincided with an attack by unknown assailants on the Coptic cathedral in Cairo's Abbasiya district during a funeral mass held for five Coptic Christians killed in Friday's sectarian violence.

Friday's clashes erupted after a group of Coptic teenagers reportedly painted offensive drawings on the walls of Cairo's Al-Azhar, Egypt's highest seat of Islamic religious learning.

Younan told Al-Ahram's Arabic-language news website that Coptic protesters were hurling rocks at police, while the latter responded with teargas.

As of 8:30pm, tension remained palpable outside the cathedral in Abbasiya. According to official sources, at least one Copt had been killed in the violence.