An Egyptian activist group tracking protester arrests has said that 239 people were arrested around Egypt on Monday, a day that saw anti-government protests in the capital and in several other cities. Freedom for the Brave, a group of human rights lawyers who document political detentions and provide detainees with legal assistance, published a list of the names of the detainees on its Facebook page on Tuesday. It said in an earlier post that some of those arrested have been released, some remain in detention, and the whereabouts of others are unknown. No official number of those arrested has yet been provided by Egypt's interior ministry, Rights lawyer Moktar Mounir, of the Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression, said several lawyers acting on behalf of those arrested were barred from three police stations in central Cairo and Giza on Monday where the detainees were being questioned by State Security investigators. Khaled El-Balshy, an elected press syndicate official, told Ahram Online that 45 journalists had been arrested on Monday. Most have subsequently been released. The press syndicate in a separate statement said that three journalists had been assaulted during the days events; it also condemned attempts to storm the syndicate's headquarters by what it said were security "thugs." A number of demonstrations were held on Monday to protest a recent decision by Egypt to acknowledge Saudi Arabia's sovereignty over the two Red Sea islands of Tiran and Sanafir. Police fired teargas to disperse the protests. It was the second wave of demonstrations against the controversial deal after thousands, including activists and politicians, rallied earlier this month in what some described as the largest protests since President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi came to office in 2014. Egypt's interior ministry had warned ahead of Monday's protests that it would show no tolerance for attempts to "undermine the country's security," urging people not to respond to "calls inciting chaos," and al-Sisi urged citizens a day earlier to defend the state and its institutions from the "forces of evil," and protect the country's stability. source: Ahram Online
