Following the same trail as last year, thousands of Egyptians marched on Tuesday to the state’s radio and television building to commemorate the first anniversary of the “Maspero” events where 27 Copts were killed.

Thousands of Coptic Christians had started marching on October 9 of last year in protest against the demolition of a church in Aswan.

When the protesters arrived to the television building, known as Maspero, clashes erupted between them and military police forces who guarded the building and unidentified assailants.

The clashes resulted in the death of 27 Coptic protesters, some crushed under armored vehicles, some killed by live ammunition, and dozens injured.

Demonstrators on Tuesday held high portraits of victims of the incident and waved flags of Egypt and “the Crescent and the Cross” displaying national unity.

“Oh Muslims, tell the Copts, your misfortunes are ours”, the demonstrators chanted, chanting also slogans against the military council that ruled Egypt after Mubarak’s ouster.

The coalition of Egyptian Copts and the Union of Maspero martyrs called on all Egyptians to support the march, stressing on its peacefulness.

They called upon all political forces not to raise any political or sectarian demands, only justice for the martyrs, reported the Middle East News Agency.

In Kafr El-Sheikh, revolutionary forces organized a similar march to commemorate the victims of the tragic incident. They also chanted slogans demanding that those who were in charge then be put on trial.

Naim El Masry, organizer of Kafr El-Sheikh’s march, said, "A year has passed and the wounds have not healed. Oh Maspero, you open wound in the heart of the nation… faces of the martyrs reside in our features".

Various youth and revolutionary groups participated in marches in many of Egypt’s provinces.