On Monday, August 5, the Free Egyptians Party denounced the state's silence in the face of the assaults carried out against Coptic citizens in al-Minya governorate and in a number of villages in Upper Egypt as encouraging extremists to further violate the rights of Egyptian citizens. Therefore, the party demanded the government upholds the law to bring the perpetrators to justice. The party appealed in its statement to Egyptians not to let the country slip into sectarian fitnahin this critical time (Nagalā’ Suleymān, al-Shurūq, Aug. 5). Read original text in Arabic.