Bīshūy Fawzī, a member of the Union’s politburo, called for a symbolic stand of protest outside the Saint Mark Cathedral in the Cairo district of al-‘Abbāssīyah to send a message to Pope Shenouda that invitations to Islamists or members of the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) should never have been extended in the first place.

Coptic activist Rāmī Kāmil, who called for a sit-in at the cathedral, wondered “how should we accept applause Muhammad Salīm al-‘Awwā, who was the first one to speak about alleged weapons inside churches, or ‘Ādil ‘Abd al-Maqsūd, the leader of the Salafī al-Asālah (Authenticity) Party, who said he would never congratulate Copts on their festivities, or the Muslim Brotherhood members who have been sowing the seeds of extremism and the notions that Copts are second-class citizens?” [Rānyā Nabīl, Al-Ahālī, Jan. 4, p. 3]