Members of the prominent youth protest group, the April 6 Youth Movement, staged an impromptu demonstration in front of President Mohamed Morsi's private residence in the district of New Cairo on the outskirts of the city Friday night, a spokesman for the group confirmed to Ahram Arabic news website, protesting the arrest and detention of the group's founder, Ahmed Maher, earlier in the day. Earlier Friday members of the group also staged demonstrations in front of a number of police directorates in Cairo and other governorate buidings in protest at Maher's arrest. Egyptian security forces detained Maher Friday afternoon as he arrived to Cairo Airport from Vienna following a trip to the United States. He will be held for four days pending investigations. An interior ministry official said that Maher was detained based on an arrest warrant issued by the prosecutor general on accusations of inciting protests in front of the interior minister's residence in March, according to the state-run MENA news agency. On 29 March, four members of the April 6 Youth Movement were arrested and charged with rioting and resisting authorities after security forces dispersed a protest held by the movement at the residence of Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim in New Cairo. The protesters held up women's underwear and banners accusing the ministry of "prostituting" itself to the Morsi regime. One month later, a New Cairo court ordered the release of the four members. However, it was unclear whether or not the charges against them had been dropped. The April 6 Youth Movement had supported President Morsi in the June 2012 presidential elections against Mubarak-era candidate Ahmed Shafiq. However, the movement has been increasingly critical of Morsi's policies, accusing the Muslim Brotherhood leader of betraying his pro-revolution campaign promises.
