Cairo parks free on Christmas Day

28 Dec, 2017

Egyptian Coptic Christians celebrate Christmas on 7 January.

Cairo’s parks will be open to the public for free on Christmas Day, which falls on 7 January according to Egypt's Coptic Christian tradition.
The initiative was announced by Cairo governor Atef Abdel Hamid who also said that tickets for the Nile river bus would be reduced by 50 per cent on 7 January.
Abdel Hamid added that heavy security and surveillance measures would be in place to try and ensure that Christmas Day events remain peaceful.
Egypt's minority Christian community has been the subject of persecution in recent years, including the suicide bombing of churches, with many of the attacks claimed by the Egyptian branch of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
Egypt’s Christians number around 10 million people and constitute about 10 per cent of the country’s population.