The European Union of Coptic Organizations has decided to postpone the demonstration scheduled for today in Paris. The decision has been taken given the current circumstances Egypt is going through and in sympathy with President Mubarak for the death of his grandson. The demonstration was scheduled in parallel with President Mubarak's visit to the White House, but the postponement of the visit and the current conditions of the President's family led to the postponement of the demonstration. The Union issued a statement in which it said the demonstration had been put off until the President's visit to France in the near future. It also stressed that the Copts were determined to have their demands for human rights met, and would not keep silent against what they described as injustice and tyranny. For his part, Magdy Khalil, President of the Middle East Freedom Forum, told Al-Masry Al-Youm on the phone from the US that the humanitarian situation of President Mubarak and his family forced them to cancel everything. He also pointed out that the Copts decided to stage no demonstrations during the Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit's visit to Washington. Khalil said that the expatriate Copts gave no message or demand to U.S. President Barack Obama so that he might pass them on to the Egyptians during his upcoming visit to Cairo. He added that "Obama has a complete file on the status of Copts in Egypt, but his visit to Cairo aims to restore the relationship between Islamic states and Washington, and there won't be room to talk about anything else." Khalil also affirmed that talking about the Copts' situation and putting pressure to abolish any discrimination against Copts in Egypt was a lengthy matter, particularly as the Obama administration was still new and the relations between it and the Copts would deepen in the future.
Coptic organizations in the US called all the demonstrations scheduled in Washington during President Mubarak's visit to the White House.
