Hidden away in a concrete loading bay around the side of a major Cairo postal office, about 100 workers in their 20s and 30s gather among a forest of placards.

The body headed by Egypt’s official religious advisor on Tuesday denied he had said that Muslims were free to change their faith, as had been reported by a US Washington Post-Newsweek forum on Islam.

Egypt’s announcement that it is to sell off 80 percent of its third largest public sector bank, Banque du Caire, has revived old fears that privatisation is heralding the return of colonialism.