CAIRO: Several thousand Egyptians, mainly supporters of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood, demonstrated on Sunday against a deadly Israeli raid on a flotilla of ships seeking to take aid to the Gaza Strip.
Around 1,000 people protested in Cairo, 3,000 in Fayoum, south of the capital, 500 in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria and 700 in Damietta, a security official told AFP.
In Cairo, hundreds of riot police surrounded the demonstrators and their trucks lined a major thoroughfare, an AFP correspondent said.
The Muslim Brotherhood had put out a call earlier on its website for people to join the rallies to protest against the Israeli military action against the aid flotilla and demand the release of those detained.
Two Egyptian members of parliament were aboard one of the six boats that were attempting to carry humanitarian aid to the blockaded Gaza Strip.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak condemned Israel’s "use of excessive and unjustified force that led to the loss of innocent lives."
The foreign ministry also summoned Israel’s ambassador in Cairo Yitzhad Levanon after the raid, calling for the immediate release of the two MPs.
At least nine pro-Palestinian activists were killed in the dawn raid by Israeli naval commandos in international waters, which sparked international condemnation and prompted the indefinite postponement of a planned trip to Washington by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
