CAIRO: Egypt's powerful Muslim Brotherhood group reported on Sunday that charity stalls established in Alexandria were attacked by government forces and at least two people have been detained. The stalls are part of the Islamic group's efforts at giving lower income families the opportunity of purchasing school supplies for their children at reduced rates. The annual event was interrupted across Egypt's second largest city of Alexandria after the stalls were set up, the Brotherhood said in a statement published on their official website. “State security forces in Alexandria carried out vicious raids on charity stalls set up by the Muslim Brotherhood to sell school supplies. The stalls are set up annually at the beginning of the school year in an attempt to lighten the financial burden on families by selling supplies at retail prices,” the group said. According to the group, and eyewitnesses across the city, security forces attacked during iftar, the meal that breaks the sunrise to sunset fast during the holy month of Ramadan, confiscating goods and encircling a number of areas where the stalls had been established. One eyewitness said in a phone interview that he saw police “come in and destroy a number of stalls while the people were breaking fast. It was ridiculous and does no good for the families who needed to buy their childrens' supplies there.” Security forces remained on location in the Wardyan, Ramleh, Betash and Saad ben Muaz districts in an effort to ensure the stalls could not be re-opened after the meal. Barriers were allegedly erected across the areas and at least 15 armored police vehicles arrived on the scene to ensure order. The Brotherhood has reported that at least two owners of stalls were arrested after they objected to “the barbaric ways in which their merchandise was handled.” By Monday morning, their whereabouts remain unknown, the Brotherhood noted. Witnesses in the area said that the Brotherhood stalls were not the only ones attacked. In Saad ben Muaz, non-Brotherhood charity tables were also attacked by police, who have a policy of not allowing street vendors to congregate in large numbers, an interior ministry official said Monday morning, but refused to comment on the details of the incident in Alexandria. “These fairs are held annually where schools supplies are sold with no profit in mind in attempts to help families with lower incomes,” the Brotherhood said. BM
