From Reuters…
Police detained 17 members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood on Sunday in northern Egypt where the Islamist group was fielding candidates for three vacant parliamentary seats, security officials said.
The Brotherhood, the strongest opposition group in the Arab country despite the ban, said police forces were blocking its campaign staff and supporters from voting in the coastal city of Alexandria and the Nile Delta province of Kafr el-Sheikh. Brotherhood candidates are running as independents.
The Interior Ministry said the charges were baseless.
Security officials and the Brotherhood said police rounded up the 17 Islamists in Alexandria, where the group was vying with ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) and other independent candidates for two seats vacant since 2005 when voting was halted after a legal challenge.
A Reuters photographer saw police detain two men who were carrying leaflets promoting a Brotherhood candidate.
The arrests bring to at least 55 the number of Brotherhood members detained over the past four days.