Friday, January 28, 2011

ElBaradei held as thousands pour on to streets in biggest protests yet


Egyptian authorities have held Mohamed ElBaradei, the Nobel peace laureate leading protests against President Hosni Mubarak's authoritarian regime.Mr ElBaradei was among thousands of protesters who have poured on to the streets of Egypt's towns and cities at the end of noon prayers on Friday, in are expected to be the biggest demonstrations yet in the attempted revolution against Mr Mubarak
Egypt's authorities responded to the growing threat to the regime by shutting down access to the internet and launching a fresh wave of arrests.
Their focus this time was the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's largest opposition group, after it threw its support behind the protest movement. Leaders of the group, as well as ordinary supporters, were rounded up on Thursday night and in the early hours of Friday morning.
But, despite a ban on all forms of political protest, there was little to suggest that the crackdown was working.
In mosques across the country, imams had been instructed to tell their followers not to take to the streets.

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