Prominent Egyptian activist arrested for defying new protest law
Alaa Abd El Fattah is the latest activist to be arrested in a week of crackdowns that have energized protesters on polar ends of the political spectrum.
CAIRO — The latest arrest in a week of crackdowns came suddenly in the evening of Nov. 28 when police officers reportedly broke through the door of prominent activist Alaa Abd El Fattah’s home, beat him and slapped his wife, stoking the fury of activists already angered that day over the first protester death under a prohibitive new protest law.
The restrictive law has been challenged since being issued Sunday, Nov. 24, by protest camps on polar ends of the political spectrum — namely secular-leaning activists and the Muslim Brotherhood, whose outrage at the military-backed regime converges on social media while remaining parallel in the streets.
