Egyptian Villagers İnjured İn Clashes With Policemen

Clashes erupted Thursday between policemen and villagers angered by the arrest of ten people during a raid on their central Egypt village, eyewitnesses said.



At least 40 villagers from the Beni Sueif province village of Al-Maymon were injured in the clashes, the witnesses added.



"The clashes erupted when scores of village residents went out to protest the arrest of their neighbors," an eyewitnesses told Anadolu Agency.



The eyewitnesses said that policemen fired teargas and birdshot to disperse the protesters who responded by pelting the policemen with stones.



The eyewitnesses said most of the 40 victims suffered temporary asphyxiation due to teargas inhalation.



No Interior Ministry officials were immediately available for comment.



Al-Maymon villagers blocked a main road connecting the Egyptian capital Cairo with Beni Sueif earlier in the day in protest against the arrest of 10 of local residents, whom the authorities accuse of belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood.



Egyptian authorities have unleashed a massive crackdown on the Brotherhood since the ouster of elected president Mohamed Morsi – a Brotherhood leader himself – by the military last July.



Since then, Egypt's military-backed authorities have rounded up hundreds of the Brotherhood's senior and mid-ranking members, hundreds of whom remain in detention.



In December, the Egyptian government branded the Brotherhood as a "terrorist" organization.



By Ashraf Mustafa



englishnews@aa.com.tr - Kahire