Egypt police detain Muslim Brothers over protests

ASSIUT, Egypt, Aug 4 (Reuters) Egyptian police detained more than 100 Islamists in connection with protests against Israel and in support of the Lebanese guerrilla group Hizbollah, police and the opposition Muslim Brotherhood said.

The Brotherhood said on its official Web site that 130 demonstrators were held in the southern province of Assiut today after demonstrations that followed Friday prayers at three places including the provincial capital.

Police sources in the province said 150 members of the Brotherhood were held overnight to prevent them organising the protests. All of them left detention on Friday afternoon, said the sources, who declined to be named because of regulations.

The Brotherhood Web site quoted the local leader of the Islamist group as saying that 2,000 people took part in one protest in Assiut city and police hit some of them in an unsuccessful attempt to stop them coming out on the street.

At the Azhar mosque in Cairo, police fired one teargas canister to stop a similar protest spilling out of the enclosed mosque courtyard, witnesses said.

Groups of Egyptians have organised protests against Israel, the United States and the Egyptian government almost daily since the conflict between Israel and Hizbollah began on July 12. Most of them have drawn a few hundred participants.

Police regularly detain for short periods members of the Muslim Brotherhood, which has 88 seats in parliament despite the overnment's refusal to grant it legal recognition.

Reuters SHB RN2148