Egypt holding more than 200 pro-reform protesters

CAIRO: Police detained more than 200 protestors during rallies in support of two judges who accused colleagues of helping rig parliamentary elections last year, opposition parties said Friday. Wafa Al-Masri, a lawyer with the secular Kefaya (Enough) movement, said some 210 people were arrested during Thursday s demonstrations in central Cairo. The main opposition Muslim Brotherhood movement put the figure as high as 260. The interior ministry confirmed a number of people had been detained but declined to give a figure. The United States said it was deeply concerned by Thursday s police crackdown on pro-democracy protestors and suggested Cairo s backsliding on reforms could affect U.S. aid. Officials said that while the U.S. administration did not back cutting the nearly $2 billion in annual economic and military assistance provided to its key Middle East ally, Congress might react. It was only the latest blast at Egypt by the United States, which has taken the government of President Hosni Mubarak to task over the conduct of elections and the detention of leading opposition leader Ayman Nour. AFP