Egypt detains 200 alleged Islamists over protest calls

CAIRO – Egyptian officials say some 200 supporters of the banned Muslim Brotherhood have been detained in connection with calls by the Islamist group for street protests against price rises.

The officials say 229 people were detained Friday, but an unspecified number of minors and bystanders were later released. Those arrested came from seven provinces, with 78 from the capital, Cairo, 104 from the northern Beheira province and 21 from Minya, south of Cairo.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity on Sunday because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Only several hundred Brotherhood supporters responded to the calls, staging flash protests in poor areas of Cairo and other cities on Friday.

The Brotherhood’s Mohammed Morsi, Egypt’s first freely elected president, was ousted by the military in 2013.