CAIRO: The Maspero Youth Union held on Wednesday a silent protest outside St. Mark Cathedral in Abaseya, calling on Pope Shenouda III and other Coptic, religious figures to receive no Christmas greetings during the mass to be held on Friday. The protest further mourned the martyrs of the [January 25] Revolution and the following incidents as well as all Christians who were killed during the attacks on churches throughout last year. "It has been a bloody year and we need to respect the feelings of the martyrs' families and those who were injured," member in the union's supreme committee, Ramy Ramsis, told Daily News Egypt. Ramsis said the union rejected any possibility of holding an open sit-in inside the church. "We see ourselves as a Coptic, political group that expresses the homeland's issues within the Coptic community," he said. "We cannot dictate on the Pope or the Church who to receive. It is normal that officials will visit him to express greetings. But at least, we can call ask him not to accept compliments during Christmas Eve [on Friday]," he added. The protest was postponed for about two hours until the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar finished his visit to the pope.
