EGYPT: Egyptian security forces beat activists and assaulted and detained journalists yesterday during protests in support of judges who face 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 photographer and an Al-Jazeera television cameraman, a witness said. Thousands of riot police, armed with sticks and shields, sealed off main streets, disrupting traffic for several hours 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 took part in other protests. A Brotherhood spokesman said police held a total of 300 activists during the morning's events in Cairo.
One group of protesters gathered quietly around the corner from the high court to escape 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.
A journalist from the independent newspaper al-Dastour, Abir al-Askari, said state security officers beat her in a police truck and again in a police station. "They held me there for three hours and tried to extract a promise that I would not write about the judges again," she said.
The two judges, Mahmoud Mekky and Hesham Bastawisi, face charges of violating judiciary rules by talking on television about abuses in last year's elections. They have also been prominent in a campaign by the informal "Judges Club" to obtain full financial and administrative independence from the ministry of justice.
The two judges refused to attend the hearing and withdrew to the "Judges Club" nearby because the disciplinary committee would not let in judges allied to them.
Judges say that for many years the justice ministry has used its control of salaries, bonuses and disciplinary proceedings to influence judges and their rulings. The confrontation has been brewing since last year when the "Judges Club" released reports of widespread abuses and fraud in counting.
Mr Mubarak's ruling National Democratic Party maintained its control of parliament in the elections and he won Egypt's first multi-candidate presidential poll to secure a fifth six-year term.