FILE - In this Dec. 24, 1956 file photo, Egyptian civilians climb on the statue of Ferdinand de Lesseps, the French diplomat who was behind the construction of Egypt's Suez Canal, in Port Said, prior to blowing it up. A proposal to bring back the statue has stirred controversy in Egypt with many saying it would be a salute to colonial times and a “humiliation" to the memory of tens of thousands of Egyptian laborers who died while digging the waterway. The debate started when a newspaper reported in June 2020 that local authorities in the Mediterranean province of Port Said were thinking of returning the statue to where it once stood at the northern entrance of the canal. (AP Photo, File)