Cairo Fundamentalists Attacked at Gathering

CAIRO —  Club-wielding security forces attacked and dispersed a group of Muslims holding an unauthorized outdoor prayer service Friday, in an escalating crackdown on religious fundamentalists demanding the immediate imposition of Islamic law in Egypt.

About 15 people were detained, according to witnesses. Most were followers of Sheik Hafez Salama, a militant fundamentalist who was arrested two weeks ago on charges of distributing seditious literature. Salama is still in custody.

The incident, near Cairo’s Al Noor Mosque, marked the first time that violence has erupted since the government warned last month that it would deal sternly with religious militants demanding full implementation of sharia, the Islamic legal code.

Closed 2 Weeks Ago

Al Noor, an unfinished mosque where Salama used to speak every Friday, was closed by the government two weeks ago. For the last several weeks, hundreds of riot policemen have ringed the area on Fridays, the Muslim sabbath.

Friday’s violence broke out when 50 or 60 fundamentalists who had been denied entrance to Al Noor tried to hold their own prayer service rather than go to a government-controlled mosque.

Gathering in a small vacant lot nearby, the fundamentalists sat down to pray and refused orders to disperse. After a brief argument, regular police officers withdrew and several dozen young toughs used by the Interior Ministry to break up demonstrations charged into the kneeling crowd, swinging short, black truncheons.

The fundamentalists picked up bricks and stones and hurled them back at their attackers as they dispersed. Five or six people were arrested at the scene and about 10 more, several blocks away.

The violence came after several weeks of mounting tension between Salama’s followers and the government of President Hosni Mubarak.

Police have thwarted several attempts by Salama to hold rallies to demand the immediate introduction of the 1,300-year-old sharia code. Among other things, it bans alcohol, obliges women to wear the veil and prescribes death by stoning for adultery.

In Egypt, the debate over sharia is not new, but it has picked up momentum in recent months amid a broad resurgence of Islamic fundamentalism. This, in turn, has sharpened divisions in Egypt over how to deal with religious extremism.

Sledgehammer View

Many diplomats and Egyptian analysts think the government has overreacted. “Mubarak is doing the fundamentalists a favor by treating them as though they are a much greater threat than they are,” a newspaper editor said. “It’s like using a sledgehammer against a spider,” in the words of a diplomat.

But while Salama’s following is believed to be small--no more than several thousand--the government’s crackdown appears to reflect a concern that their appeal is spreading.

“Most Egyptians are very religious and most Egyptians are very poor, and that is a volatile combination,” a Western diplomat said. “I would not mimimize the government’s concern about fundamentalism. Until and unless the government can provide a more effective answer to the frustrations of the poor, its concern about fundamentalism is not unwarranted.”