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ALEXANDRIA, Egypt-Police detained 21 members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood on Sunday in northern Egypt where the Islamist group was fielding candidates for three vacant parliamentary seats, the Brotherhood said. Security officials had earlier confirmed 17 arrests.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. The Brotherhood said on its Web site that police rounded up the 21 Islamists in Alexandria, where the group was vying with ruling National Democratic Party 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.Several hours into the voting in Kafr el-Sheikh, the Brotherhood's local candidate, Ragab el-Banna, announced he was pulling out of the election because of what he called police harassment and vote-rigging.Banna told Reuters earlier he had seen glass boxes filled with ballots early on Sunday, despite a very low turnout. Witnesses and a Reuters reporter in Kafr el-Sheikh said only a trickle of voters had cast their ballots.To read more go to:
As in the days of Noah...
