29 arrested in Alexandria – security official

Monday 02-02-2015 04:40 PM
29 arrested in Alexandria – security official

Students who are supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood and ousted President Mohamed Mursi throw a tear gas canister fired by riot police during clashes outside Cairo University March 26, 2014. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh

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CAIRO, Feb 2 (Aswat Masriya) – Security forces raided an educational center in Alexandria and arrested 29 people inside on Monday for allegedly planning protests, a security official in Alexandria said.

The official told Aswat Masriya that the group includes six people who purportedly belong to the Muslim Brotherhood and 23 college students.

The Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression, a rights group which advocates for academic freedoms, said the students were arrested while attending a course in the center.

The security official, however, said the arrests were made after security forces received information suggesting that Brotherhood members were using the educational center to hold "organisational meetings" and to "plan protests" inside Alexandria University with the purpose of spreading chaos.  

The Brotherhood has been considered a "terrorist" organisation by the Egyptian government since December 2013.    

University campuses have witnessed unprecedented violence in the past two academic years, with protest dispersal by security forces sometimes turning deadly.

Egypt's protest law, which has been in effect since November 2013, stipulates that assembly organisers must notify the concerned security authorities with their plans for assembly at least three working days in advance.

The law also grants the ministry of interior the right to cancel, move or postpone assemblies. 

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