Police, demonstrators clash

2006-05-18 15:12

Cairo - Egyptian police chased and beat demonstrators in the main streets of downtown Cairo on Thursday, near a courthouse where two hearings for pro-reform judges were scheduled.

Police said they'd detained Essam al-Erian - a leader of the Muslim Brotherhood - and 100 of the group's members at a demonstration in downtown Cairo.

A disciplinary hearing for two Egyptian judges who spoke to the media about allegations of fraud during last year's parliamentary elections was scheduled at the courthouse.

One of the judges, Hesham El-Bastawisy, couldn't attend because he had undergone an emergency heart operation on Wednesday.

Whether his colleague, Mahmoud Mekky, would be present wasn't clear. Journalists were banned from attending the hearing.

Also on Thursday, the country's appeals court was to decide whether to hear the appeal of the number two contender in last year's presidential elections -Ayman Nour - against his five year sentence on forgery charges.

'We are the Brothers'

Nour was recently hospitalised for problems related to diabetes. He said the case, which involved documents to found his party, was purely political.

Most of the demonstrators on Thursday appeared to be from the banned, but tolerated, Brotherhood.

"Oh judges, fear no one but God," chanted dozens of protesters.

"We are the Brothers," another group shouted as they pumped their fists in the air. "There's no alternative but Islam."

Others were from the pro-reform Kefaya movement, whose members include secularists and Islamists.

Police grabbed a middle-aged man by his collar as several police beat him. "I didn't do anything," he repeatedly screamed.

Another police man was seen repeatedly slapping a young man in the face with both hands.

In similar protests last week, police chased protesters who would then regroup and shout slogans in support of the judges and reform.

Security forces rounded up 255 people in those protests.

- AP