Egypt police detain Islamists in seaside resort

CAIRO, June 19 (Reuters) Egyptian police detained 31 members of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood in the Mediterranean seaside resort of Marsa Matrouh today, security and Brotherhood officials said.

Police said they had been distributing leaflets and books from three holiday apartments for the Islamist group, which the government calls a banned organisation despite its large presence in parliament.

But Brotherhood spokesman Mohamed Osama said those detained were holidaymakers from Alexandria and were not recruiting.

He said the detentions brought to 691 the number of Muslim Brotherhood members now in detention without charge. Most of those were detained during a series of protests in solidarity with Egyptian judges who were demanding judicial independence.

The government refuses to recognise the Brotherhood but members standing as independents won 88 seats in the 454-seat parliament in last year's elections.

REUTERS SHB RK1720