Clashes broke out Friday between security forces and supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood candidates for the upcoming parliamentary elections in Alexandria. Police used tears gas to disperse the protesters and arrested dozens of them. Eye witnesses said a number of Brotherhood supporters and policemen were injured in the clashes. Meanwhile, the Brotherhood said on its website that police have arrested 100 of its members and injured 33 others in the clashes. In Mahalla al-Kubra, Gharbiya, security forces arrested 20 of the supporters of MP Saad al-Husseiny, a member of the Brotherhood bloc in parliament and a contender in the upcoming parliamentary elections slated for 28 November. Supporters of al-Husseiny said the police beat the protesters--whose number was estimated at 5000-- and broke up the protest using tear gas after encircling al-Husseiny's supporters in the Shawn Square in Mahalla. Al-Husseiny's supporters threatened to organize a large protest on Saturday if police did not release those who were arrested. The Brotherhood said last week that police had rounded up about 600 of their supporters ahead of the election and that some 250 were still being detained. The group, which registers its candidates as independents to skirt a ban on religious parties, won a fifth of parliament's seats in the last election in 2005. The Brotherhood is fielding about 135 candidates in the election, although the exact number remains uncertain as some candidates are contesting the election commission's decision to bar them from running. The ruling National Democratic Party is fielding about 800 candidates, and the liberal Wafd opposition party about 250 for the 508 seats up for election. On Thursday, Egypt accused the United States of meddling in its affairs in an unusually harsh criticism after Washington called for foreign monitors in this month's election and also met with a group pressing for reform. Cairo was particularly upset over a November 2 meeting in Washington between US President Barack Obama's national security advisers and a group of US foreign policy analysts who are pushing for reforms in Egypt. Past elections in Egypt have been marred by violence and irregularities, and local rights groups say the vote has already been compromised by the arrests of many opposition activists. The government has said it will allow local groups to send observers to polling stations.
