Rights groups: 650 detained in latest anti-Sisi protests

Over 650 Egyptians were arrested from across arrested across Egypt in the latest wave of demonstrations against Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi, local rights sources reported yesterday.  The sources told Arabi21 that that 300 of the detainees were standing trial at the Supreme State Court, adding that 60 others were transferred for imprisonment pending investigations.

The defendants’ lawyers said that the security forces had arrested the Egyptian activist and human rights lawyer, Mahienour El-Masry, along with several other journalists, who were being interrogated by the country’s Supreme Court.

One of ten lawyers explained that most of the detainees from the street vendors, who happened to be present in the area where demonstrations took place.

READ: Egypt orders release of workers who protested for salary increases

Demonstrations last Friday were sparked off by an online campaign launched by an Egyptian businessman living in self-imposed exile in Spain. Mohamed Ali’s videos were claiming widespread corruption in the government and urging people to protest went viral. Others have followed Ali and posted their videos, with their faces covered, describing their own experience of government corruption.

Officers in Egypt’s military have also been reported to be calling on citizens to take to the streets and bring an end to the Sisi regime.

The protests have been met with threats by officials. The Egyptian authorities began their clampdown by censoring several media website, including BBC Arabic, for reporting news about the demonstrations.