WUNRN
EGYPT - YOUNG FEMALE MUSLIM
BROTHERHOOD PROTESTORS ARRESTED & DETAINED IN ALEXANDRIA
Pro-Mohamed Morsi female students
shout slogans during a protest at
Patrick Kingsley in
Egyptian police
have taken the unusual step of detaining 22 female supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood,
raising tensions before Monday's much-awaited trial of the party's Mohamed Morsi, the
president of the country who was removed by the military in July.
Thousands of
Morsi's supporters have been arrested and more than 1,000 killed by state
officials since his overthrow. But few women have been detained for any
extended period, which makes Thursday's round-up of nearly two dozen women in
"It sends a message – particularly in
But the anti-coup alliance says it will not back down, calling for four
straight days of protests in the run-up to the trial. It claims that it
"will not relent, rest or sleep until the coup is fully defeated".
The 22 women are aged between 15 and 25 and are accused of several charges
related to the protest, including the disruption of traffic during
demonstrations, a senior security official told a journalist in
The city has
experienced significant unrest this summer. The protests continued this week at
Morsi was ousted by the army on 3 July, following days of mass protests against
his government. His removal sparked the most severe crackdown on the
Brotherhood since the 1950s, with almost every member of the group's executive
board arrested and many of its rank-and-file injured during five army assaults
of protesters over the summer.
Morsi's supporters, who form a significant minority of the population,
demand his return to office. But the new government installed by the army is
determined to continue with what it says is the re-establishment of democracy
in
But the
government's critics – including those who oppose the authoritarian values of
both the army and the Brotherhood – fear it is enforcing a return to the
restrictive policies of the Mubarak
era. A new law being debated in cabinet would effectively
outlaw street protest – in a move that rights activists say is an indication of
the new regime's authoritarian tendencies.
Morsi was also considered an autocratic leader. Monday's trial – the first
time he will have been seen in public since July – pertains to clashes outside
the presidential palace last December that he is alleged to have instigated.