Cairo - Seventeen members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood
group were arrested in Egypt Wednesday for rioting and fighting -
including four rounded up after earlier clashes in Sharqiya province.
Witnesses told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that authorities
arrested 13 students for rioting on university premises and clashing
with opposing students from other trends and the incumbent student
union over internal elections.
Four students were wounded in the reported fights, said witnesses.
Last week, filing for candidacy in Student Union elections began
across Egyptian universities.
Student activists and leaders loyal to the outlawed brethren
decried discrimination and claimed that they were banned from
registering their names.
On Monday, hundreds of students began holding demonstrations in
Cairo and Helwan universities in protest to the alleged
discrimination.
Separately, four other group loyalists were arrested while seven
more Brotherhood members, also allegedly involved in the Sharqiya
clashes, were being sought by the police, according to local
authorities.
Clashes had occurred during prayers on the Muslim feast of Eid al-
Fitr on October 13, when 35 Brotherhood members were arrested on the
spot.
All 46 group members are accused of violently disrupting prayers
by preventing the local imams from the tradition of praying in a
public square.
Witnesses and authorities earlier said the so-called Brothers had
tried to secure a designated area on the square, but were prevented
by police.
Clashes broke out and the Brothers started pelting security forces
with stones. Police sources said a senior police officer and five
other policemen were injured.
The Brotherhood members had carried pamphlets promoting the
outlawed group and batons when they were arrested during prayers,
authorities also claimed.
The Muslim Brotherhood is an Islamic group that functions much
like an opposition political party at loggerheads with the ruling
party.
It is also considered a strong social organization with a large
network across Egypt building and running mosques, hospital
facilities and charity organisations.
Eighty-eight members of Egypt's lower-house of parliament are
loyal to the group.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
USA
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