CAIRO - Egyptian riot police used batons to beat opposition protesters who tried to stage a rally in downtown Cairo on Friday against the seven-day-old Israeli offensive on Gaza, witnesses said. Police also briefly detained a Reuters cameraman, confiscated his tape and prevented other cameramen from filming, witnesses said.Thousands of riot police were deployed in Cairo and other cities ahead of the protests called for by the Brotherhood, the strongest opposition group in the country. The group has historical and ideological ties with Hamas which rules Gaza.
‘This will not prevent us from declaring our anger and expressing our solidarity with the Palestinian people,’ Mohamed Habib, the Brotherhood deputy leader, told Reuters. He said Egypt should break off diplomatic and economic ties with Israel.
In other cities thousands of protesters rallied against the raids, which have killed more than 400 people. The Jewish state says the attacks are designed to stop Hamas from firing rockets on towns in southern Israel.
A rally in the costal town of El-Arish in North Sinai turned violent when protesters tried to force their way through a police cordon and move to other areas. ‘The people charged at the police and pelted them with rocks,’ a Reuters witness said. ‘Police started rounding people up and beating them,’ he added.
In the city of Ismailia, around 5,000 people demanded tough actions by Arab governments. ‘We demand the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador,’ read one banner.
Security officials put the number of detainees in Cairo after the prayers at around 30. They said most of them were likely to be released later on Friday.
Protesters in countries like Lebanon, Yemen and Iran have accused Egypt of cooperating with Israel by refusing to throw its border crossing with the Palestinian coastal strip wide open. The Egyptian government says opening the crossing fully without the presence of the Palestinian Authority of President Mahmoud Abbas in Gaza would give legitimacy to the IslamistsÂ’ rule in the strip. Hamas pushed AbbasÂ’ forces out in June 2007.
Egyptian officials also say an influx of hundreds of thousands of Gazans may pose a security risk because militants could sneak in among them.
| And, much worse and more to the point, the hundreds of thousands of Gazooks might decide to stay in Egypt ... |
The Islamist group has been leading a campaign against the Israeli-led blockade on Gaza, enforced since Hamas won Palestinian general elections in 2006. Analysts say the Egyptian government, which says the Brotherhood is outlawed but which allows it to operate, is wary that the group may attract more popular support by extending help to the Palestinians.