Egyptian Police Disperse Ahrar Anti-Police, Anti-Military Protest

Egyptian police arrested several members of Ahrar youth group on Saturday after they chanted slogans against the army and police, Al-Ahram Arabic website reported.

Members of the group, which is loosely affiliated with jailed Islamist preacher and politician Hazem Salah Abu-Ismail, gathered in front of Giza’s Al-Bohooth metro station on Saturday, where they chanted the slogans.

Police fired teargas and birdshot pellets to disperse the protesters.

Abu-Ismail is currently serving a seven-year prison sentence, issued in April, for forging his mother’s signature on a form submitted as part of his application to stand in the 2011 presidential elections.

Police also dispersed a separate pro-Muslim Brotherhood demonstration in Faisal Street, also in the Giza part of Egypt’s capital, after demonstrators attempted to block traffic.

Protesters escaped into side streets after police fired teargas in their direction.

A law passed last November bans spontaneous protests, requiring those organising demonstrations to seek prior consent from authorities. Dozens have been jailed since the law was issued for violating its provisions.

The law has greatly restricted pro-Muslim Brotherhood protests, the group from which ousted president Morsi hails. The group was labeled a terrorist organisation late last year, and thousands of its supporters are in prison, convicted of or charged with a variety of offences.

Source : Ahram online