Filed at 11:28 p.m. ET

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) -- Hundreds of Coptic Christians demonstrated at their Cairo cathedral for a second day Monday, angry over accusations that a former monk ran a sex-and-blackmail ring at a monastery.

Meanwhile, about 1,000 people demonstrated at the monastery in the southern city of Assiut over the scandal, which erupted Sunday when a newspaper published photographs purportedly taken from videos showing the former monk having sex with women there.

In Cairo, police prevented about 500 people from leaving the cathedral. On Sunday, a larger crowd of more than 1,000 protested outside the building, tearing copies of the independent weekly Al-Nabaa, throwing stones and blocking traffic. Six policemen were injured.

The Coptic Church in Cairo issued a statement Sunday identifying the ex-monk as Adel Saadallah Gabriel and saying he was excommunicated in 1996. It did not say why. The church accused the newspaper of defaming it inciting religious bias.

Protesters also saw the publication as an attack on their faith.

``We have been patient for too long and patience has limits,'' said Hisham Hanna, 26, who carried a wooden cross at the Cairo protest. ``What is happening is a conspiracy against the church and the Christians of Egypt.''

Coptic Christians comprise an estimated 10 percent of Egypt's 67 million people, and they have complained of discrimination in the mostly Muslim country, particularly over civil service jobs. The government denies it discriminates.

Police said they arrested the former monk last week in Assiut, 180 miles south of Cairo, and brought him to the capital for questioning about allegations that he lured women into having sex with him inside the monastery and then blackmailed them with videos of their alleged encounters.

Al-Nabaa splashed the partly blurred photographs across the front page and two full inside pages. They showed a bearded man from the waist up either wearing a sleeveless white undershirt or bare-chested.

The paper hit Cairo newsstands briefly Sunday before police ordered it confiscated and closed the newspaper for 15 days. Prosecutor General Maher Abdel-Wahed summoned the editor-in-chief, Mamdouh Mahran, for interrogation, police said.

The Supreme Press Council said it froze Mahran's membership and condemned ``all who try to tamper with the values of our society and national unity.''

Police officials said Monday that the ex-monk and his brother were arrested on the basis of a complaint from a woman who said she was one of his victims. They said some victims paid as much as $100,000 in exchange for videos allegedly taken of them with the ex-monk.

Police said the ex-monk kept copies of the videos -- taken before he was excommunicated -- and that they found 65 tapes in his possession.

The 4th-century Assiut monastery was built on a site Copts believe was visited by Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus when they fled to Egypt.

The deputy head of the monastery, Father Bakhomious, told The Associated Press that about 1,000 people gathered there Monday to express their anger. Police stopped people from leaving nearby villages to join the protest, a witness told the AP.

Thousands of Copts were expected to congregate at the monastery Tuesday for a festival celebrating the Virgin Mary.