Egypt’s prosecution detains 8 students after calling for protests on Nov. 11

Sunday 16-10-2016 07:02 PM

An Egyptian flag flutters at the High Court of Justice in Cairo November 1, 2011. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El-Ghany

CAIRO, Oct 15 (Aswat Masriya) - Egypt’s prosecution ordered on Sunday the detention of eight people for 15 days pending further investigations on various charges including calling for protests on November 11.

The arrests came amid growing calls on social media for mass demonstrations on November 11 to protest the economic conditions and price hikes.

Attorney General of East Cairo Prosecution Ibrahim Saleh told Aswat Masriya that defendants are facing charges related to "inciting violence to overthrow the regime, joining a banned group and inciting to attack police stations for terrorism-related purposes."

According to investigations carried out by the prosecution, the defendants are students at al-Azhar University and were mobilising people to take part in unlicenced protests on November 11.

The defendants printed out and distributed provocative flyers, taking advantage of the instability of prices for many food commodities at the mean time, according to the prosecution. 

A lot of Egyptians took to social media to express their frustration regarding the increase in prices of basic commodities over the past month, which was mainly caused by high inflation rate, hike in the US dollar exchange rate to the Egyptian pound and newly-introduced value-added tax.

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