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         Brotherhood Says Protest Crackdown Recalls Egypt Under Mubarak

   by VOA News

   Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood is criticizing the country's security forces
   for breaking up anti-government protests, saying the forceful
   dispersals are reminiscent of tactics employed under deposed leader
   Hosni Mubarak.
   Police used water cannons to break up two small protests in Cairo on
   Tuesday and arrested dozens of people as they enforced a new law
   against staging demonstrations without prior approval.
   A spokesman for the Brotherhood's political wing said in a statement on
   Wednesday that security forces were acting with a level of impunity
   that recalls the "tyranny and violation of freedoms and rights" seen
   under Mubarak's autocratic rule.
   The Brotherhood called the new law "draconian" and said it is meant to
   silence any opposition.
   Late Tuesday, hundreds of protesters defied the law and earlier police
   response, gathering in the same area of downtown Cairo to once again
   voice their complaints.
   After Tuesday's arrests, 10 members of a panel appointed to draft
   Egypt's new constitution suspended their work in protest.
   Also on Tuesday, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay
   called on Egypt's interim government to amend or appeal the law,
   warning that it could lead to "serious breaches of the right to freedom
   of assembly."
   Pillay said she is particularly concerned about the way the law
   describes the use of violence by security forces in response to
   protests. She says it could create a situation where violent behavior
   by a few protesters could draw an excessive reaction that puts the
   lives of peaceful demonstrators at risk.
   Egyptian authorities have been cracking down on the opposition,
   particularly the Islamist Brotherhood, since the military ousted
   president Mohamed Morsi in July. Security forces have arrested much of
   the Brotherhood's top leadership and clashed with those demonstrating
   against the interim government. More than 1,000 people, mostly
   Islamists, have been killed in the fighting.
   Morsi is being held by the authorities awaiting the January 8
   resumption of his trial on charges of inciting murder and violence
   during clashes outside the presidential palace last December.
   The Muslim Brotherhood has continually demanded that Morsi be
   reinstated as president.
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   calls-egypt-under-mubarak/1798576.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/brotherhood-says-protest-crackdown-recalls-egypt-under-mubarak/1798576.html