CAIRO - Egyptian authorities detained about 1,000 people during nationwide demonstrations organised by the banned but usually tolerated Muslim Brotherhood in favour of political reform, judicial sources said on Thursday.Public prosecutors or state security prosecutors are
Mohamed Habib, the deputy leader of the influential Islamist group, said that the Brotherhood had counted 1,562 people still in detention from Wednesday and that the police had referred hundreds to the prosecution for possible charging.
The Brotherhood said last month that it was negotiating with the interior ministry on holding a massive demonstration that would oppose foreign intervention in Egyptian politics while simultaneously pressing for more rapid political reform. "But they rejected this idea and we of course said: 'Okay, we will stage those demonstrations or stand-ins.' We had 60,000 people over 15 provinces," Habib told Reuters on Thursday.
| Dictators generally don't like demonstrations for 'reform'. |
The authorities have fluctuated in their attitude towards the protests, sometimes allowing them to go ahead, sometimes thwarting them in advance and sometimes detaining participants. Habib said: "We had hoped the security would be more responsive, more peaceful and civilised, because in our view it is their job to protect demonstrations, not to