Egyptian police arrested 16 members of the Muslim Brotherhood early on Friday, a day before another round of parliamentary elections, a spokesman for the banned but usually tolerated Islamist group said. He said the arrests in the city of Alexandria were an attempt by the ruling National Democratic Party to hamper their election campaign, after independents linked to the Brotherhood won seven seats there in the first round of the second stage of elections. The NDP gained only two. "This is a warning from the authorities and an attempt to cut off the Brotherhood leadership from their supporters. It is also a punishment for winning seven seats," said Brotherhood spokesman Abd El-Moneim Mahmoud.