Cairo: "Judges, judges, save us from the tyrants!"

reuters: Egyptian security forces beat activists and assaulted and detained journalists on Thursday during a protest in support of judges who faced a disciplinary committee for criticising election abuses last year.

Activists organised at least three separate demonstrations in central Cairo but in each case plainclothes security men moved in, hitting and dragging away selected protesters.

Plainclothes policemen detained at least six journalists covering the protests and beat a Reuters photographer and an Al Jazeera television cameraman, a Reuters witness said.

Thousands of riot police, armed with sticks and shields, sealed off main streets near the High Court, disrupting traffic in the heart of the capital.

One of the largest protests was by some 300 members of the Muslim Brotherhood, the country's largest opposition group. Secular activists marched in other protests.

A Brotherhood spokesman said police held a total of 300 activists during the morning's events in Cairo. Police sources said eight people had been formally detained.

The protesters gathered quietly around the corner from the court to escape the attention of security forces and then began chanting: "Judges, judges, save us from the tyrants!" and "Down, down with Hosni Mubarak", in reference to Egypt's president. Read more


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