Egypt’s prosecution ordered on Wednesday the detention of 17 alleged Muslim Brotherhood members pending investigation into various charges including calling for protests on November 11.
The arrests came amid growing calls on social media for mass demonstrations on Nov. 11 to protest the economic conditions and price hikes.
The prosecution accused those arrested of being part of a banned group, inciting against the regime and calling for its overthrow, taking advantage of the price hikes and inciting citizens to protest.
On Sunday, eight Al-Azhar University students were arrested for the same reason. According to the investigation, the students were mobilising people to take part in unlicensed protests on Nov. 11.
A lot of Egyptians took to social media to express their frustration regarding the increase in prices of basic commodities over the past month, which was mainly caused by high inflation rates, hike in the US dollar exchange rate to the Egyptian pound and newly-introduced value-added tax.
Egypt’s Supply Minister Mohamed Ali al-Sheikh announced on Wednesday that the central bank has allocated $1.8 billion to ensure six months of reserves in all strategic goods, affirming that Egyptians would receive a steady supply of essential foods.
Widespread sugar shortages hit the Egyptian market in the past few weeks, doubling its price and exacerbating pressures on citizens who could not find the basic commodity in several outlets.
Importing many commodities have become more difficult amid a dollar shortage, and the continued weakening of the Egyptian pound as the gap widens between the official rate and the parallel rate.
Source: Albawaba News
