The Dahshūr unrest entered a new juncture on Friday (Aug. 3) after dozens of local Copts and several Coptic movements protested outside the St. Mark Cathedral in the Cairo district of al-‘Abbāssīyah to reject the forced displacement of 120 Christian families.

Giza Governor Dr. ‘Alī ‘Abd al-Rahman, however, said that the Copts in Dahshūr were not forced to leave their homes but left them right after a young man was killed in the clashes, adding the young man’s father will not seek revenge.

President Mursī, speaking after the Friday prayers in a mosque in the Upper Egyptian governorate of Qena, said the Dahshūr incidents can never be accepted and they do not represent the Egyptian people who show amity to one another.

“The Dahshūr incidents are regrettable but the law will take its course but in the meantime I call on everyone to unite,” said the president.

A representative of Mursī went to the village and spoke after the Friday prayers to the local residents urging them to seek tolerance and avoid rumors. He affirmed that the president is following up the crisis and pledged to investigate the incidents and bring the perpetrators to justice. [Ahmad Shalabī, Ahmad ‘Abd al-Latīf, Ayman Hamzah, Wā’il ‘Alī, Ahmad al-Buhayrī and ‘Imād Khalīl, al-Misrī al-Yawm, Aug. 4, p. 8] Read original text in Arabic