In another pre-electionsweep on the country's largest opposition group, the government arrested 28 Muslim Brothers this weekend, bringing the arrest tally up to 1400 in this pre-election crackdown. The arrests, whichtook place across six governorates, included Ammar Hasan Hanafi, the MB's Qena-based media spokesperson, and Wael Gad, who were arrested while walking through the streets of the Qena governorate as part of a parade supporting the group's candidate Hisham El Qady. "We were walking peacefully when we suddenly saw two police cars bar our way"' says El Qady. "They asked for Ammar by name and then took him and Wael too because he was distributing campaign flyers."Hanafi and Gad were campaigning as part of the "banana parade" --an event named afterthe symbol of Qena,during whichMB representativeshand out bananas to the crowds. El Qady, who is running for the workers and farmers seat in the Qous constituency in Qena, is already a member of parliament and hoping for a second win this year. He said he has often distributed flyers in the past with no problems. In Helwan, police also stopped a rally in support of Muslim Brotherhood MP candidate Ramadan Omar yesterday, arresting four. The rally started after Friday prayers and included twelve cars in total. Acrossthe governorates of Cairo, Minya, Sharkiya and Dakahliya, the police arrested 22 more Muslim Brothers yesterday. "This makes the total number of arrests 1,400," says Abdel Moneim Abdel Maksoud, the groups lawyer. "Most are accused of being part of an illegal body and we are not ruling out more arrests taking place today and tomorrow." This weekend's arrestsare the latest in the government's crackdown on the MB since the group's Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie announced on October 9 that they will contest 30% of the parliament on November 28. Since the beginning of the parliamentary election campaigning period, the brotherhood have also been subject to violent clashes with state security forces.
