Egypt police arrest loyalists of banned Brotherhood

CAIRO, June 2 (Reuters) Egyptian police arrested 12 supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood today, security officials said, as part of a crackdown against the opposition group ahead of parliamentary elections this month.

The officials said five supporters of the Brotherhood, Egypt's biggest opposition group, were arrested in the Nile Delta city of Damanhoor and the other seven were detained in the coastal town of Ismailia.

The 12 are supporters of Brotherhood candidates competing in the June 11 elections for the upper house of the parliament, or Shoura Council, the officials said on condition of anonymity.

The Muslim Brotherhood operates openly despite an official ban since 1954. Members running as independents won nearly one fifth of the seats in the influential lower house of the parliament in 2005.

The government says the Islamist organisation is illegal and regularly arrest its members.

Police detained 48 Brotherhood members yesterday, including lawyers, teachers and civil servants, in one of the largest raids against the group since February.

The Brotherhood said it has registered 19 candidates for the June elections. Egyptians have largely ignored the Shoura Council polls in the past, but the next ballot will be the first since changes to the constitution gave some legislative powers to the house.

Analysts say the government wants to stop the Brotherhood now before it makes more electoral gains that could help it mount a serious threat to the rule of President Hosni Mubarak, in power since 1981.

REUTERS SG ND1540