Egypt police break up Muslim Brotherhood meeting

CAIRO, July 14 (Reuters) Egyptian police broke up a financial planning meeting of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood and detained eight members of the Islamist group, the state news agency MENA reported.

The meeting in a Cairo suburb yesterday evening was between an official of the Muslim Brotherhood's central financing committee and seven committee members from the provinces, an Interior Ministry statement said.

The brotherhood is officially a banned organisation but has about one fifth of the seats in parliament, held by members elected as independents, and operates openly within certain limits.

The Egyptian police regularly detain its members and about 500 of them are now in prison, mostly without being charged.

Muslim Brotherhood officials were not immediately available to comment on the latest detentions.

REUTERS SHB RS1348