CAIRO: Two thousand demonstrators, including Members of Parliament, were arrested Wednesday afternoon in Downtown Cairo during a protest against the Israeli blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip, according to Gamal Nassar, media consultant for the Muslim Brotherhood (MB). The protest, which was jointly organized by the Muslim Brotherhood and various other political currents, was supposed to take place in front of the Arab League headquarters where the protestors intended to peacefully deliver a message to Arab leaders. Due to security forces blocking all streets leading to the location, the protest moved to Tahrir Square. Things took a violent turn when riot police began beating the protestors with clubs as the vocal crowd shouted, "With our souls, with our blood, we defend Palestine. "The Brotherhood does not organize violent protests. Had the police not intervened, none of this would have happened, Nassar told Daily News Egypt. Many of the protestors were holding up copies of the Quran and waving peace signs in the air. Despite police violence and mass arrests, the protest in Tahrir Square grew in a matter of minutes as hundreds of protestors emerged from Talaat Harb Street, marching ahead as they chanted the same slogan. A police officer warned that all bystanders would be arrested, intimidating the crowds who gathered to take pictures and shoot videos of the protest.To contain the protest from expanding further into the Square, hoards of riot police attacked and cordoned off protestors, causing them to panic and dash into the crowd of bystanders on the pavement. Policemen indiscriminately chased the large crowd into narrow side streets, where people pushed and shoved each other to escape, while shopkeepers hurriedly closed their shop doors. Among those arrested at the protest were MPs Ahmed Diab, Hazem Farouk, Aly Fath Elbab, Ragab Helal Hemeida and Saad Aboud, who were verbally assaulted by police officers prior to their arrest, according to Nassar. One thousand of those arrested were taken to the central security headquarters in Tora, 240 to central security headquarters in Darasa, and the rest to the one in El Gabal El Ahmar. In addition to those arrested in downtown Cairo, 50 members of the MB were arrested on their way from Fayoum to Cairo to attend the protest. The last three days also saw another 81 members of the Brotherhood arrested during home raids at dawn. The Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR) opposed the arrests, saying that it is unconstitutional to impede a peaceful protest. "The law permits peaceful protests, so long as the crowd does not carry weapons, said Tarek Zaghloul, Head of the Field Work Division at EOHR.
