Thirty-five Muslim Brotherhood members were arrested on Saturday after police fired tear gas at hundreds of worshippers in a northern Nile Delta village shortly before prayers celebrating the festival that marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan, police and the group’s website reported.
The clashes erupted when Brotherhood members rallied worshippers to hold Eid ul-Fitr prayers in an empty lot instead of a separate area allotted by the government in the village of Old Salhiya, said a police official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not permitted to speak to the press. During Eid, it is customary for many Muslims to pray outside instead of in mosques.
Blue security trucks sealed off the area while police fired tear gas to disperse the gathering, the official said. Brotherhood members and others reacted by hurling stones at security forces.
The state-run news agency Mena said 35 Brotherhood members were arrested and six police officers, including the Old Salhiya police chief, were injured. The local Muslim Brotherhood website, which also reported that 35 of its members were arrested, said 15 people were injured.
The Interior Ministry accused the Muslim Brotherhood of using iron poles and batons to prevent clerics from holding prayers. ”While the village officials tried to mediate, they [Brotherhood members] hurled stones at the security forces, propelling them to react by dispersing them,” a ministry official said in a statement carried by Mena.
Old Salhiya is located in Sharqiya, which like many Nile Delta provinces is known as a Muslim Brotherhood hideout.
The Brotherhood, which has been banned since 1954, is Egypt’s largest opposition group. Its lawmakers, who run as independents, currently hold 88 seats in the 454-member Lower House of the Parliament.
Authorities have increasingly cracked down on the Islamist group since December, including sending 40 of its top financiers and businessmen to a military tribunal on charges of money laundering and supporting terrorism.
The Brotherhood claim that at least 600 of its members have been detained, including key leaders. — Sapa-AP