Egypt Police Beat Islamists In Gaza Rally

Witnesses said eight protesters were slightly injured during the clashes with anti-riot police.

Egyptian police used batons to beat protesters who rallied against the Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip in central Cairo on Saturday, witnesses said.

The protest was called by the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's strongest opposition group which has historical and ideological ties with Hamas Islamists in Gaza.

Witnesses said eight protesters were slightly injured during the clashes with anti-riot police, who had deployed in force several hours before the rally.

A security official, speaking on a customary condition of anonymity, said police detained 25 people during the protest. Police usually release most of those held during demonstrations after several hours.

Reuters photographer Asmaa Waguih said men who appeared to be plainclothes agents also confiscated her camera, along with the cameras of at least two other photographers.

The Brotherhood has been leading a campaign against the three-week Israeli attacks, which have killed more than 1,000 Palestinians. Ten Israeli soldiers and three civilians, hit by Palestinian rocket fire from Gaza, have also died.

The Islamist group has also criticised the government for not opening the Rafah border crossing with Gaza for normal traffic, rather than for limited humanitarian operations.

The Egyptian government says it would only open the border for normal traffic in the presence of the Palestinian Authority of President Mahmoud Abbas, whose forces Hamas drove out of the strip in 2007. The government calls the Brotherhood an outlawed group but allows it to operate relatively openly.