Before the service, hundreds of Christians were protesting in the street, chanting slogans against the Muslim Brotherhood. It seems as though unknown assailants attacked the protestors, firing birdshot and throwing Molotov cocktails at the mourners and the cathedral grounds. Some protestors retaliated by throwing stones, while the majority of mourners retreated to the Cathedral. Widespread reports that the police fired birdshot and tear gas at Christian protestors and into the cathedral grounds has angered many in the Christian community (Salāh Laban, Ahmad al-Baramāwī, Ahmad Sa'īd and ‘Ismā’īl Wasīmī, al-Tahrīr, April 8, p. 3). Read original text in Arabic.