CAIRO: Egyptian police blocked an opposition convoy carrying medical supplies to the Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip and arrested at least 30 activists on Monday, security officials said.
Police surrounded campaigners outside the Journalists Syndicate offices in Cairo, where the convoy was due to leave from, and detained 25 opposition members, a security official said.
They also arrested five opposition members, including the head of the suspended Labor Party Magdi Hussein, who had traveled on their own to Rafah, another official said.
The campaigners, including judges, independent MPs, members of the main opposition Muslim Brotherhood and other parties, want to protest the continued closure of the Rafah crossing by Israel and Egypt.
Police have set up checkpoints on the road between Ismailiya and the town of El-Arish in northern Sinai, about 45 km from Rafah, and were only allowing residents to enter, the official said.
Last month, police blocked a similar convoy headed to the Rafah crossing, Gaza s only exit to the outside world that is not under the control of Israel.
Israel, which sealed off the impoverished coastal strip after Hamas seized power there in June 2007, allows limited amounts of aid.
Egypt occasionally permits people to enter and leave Gaza, but has refused to open the Rafah crossing permanently. -AFP
