Cairo - Supporters of a jailed Egyptian opposition leader clashed with security forces who were trying to halt the demonstration Monday in downtown Cairo, witnesses told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa. The protestors, who numbered fewer than 100, gathered in the downtown square to protest the burning of the headquarters al-Ghad, the party headed by Ayman Nour, who was imprisoned in late 2005 on forgery charges after coming in second to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in the last presidential elections.
Egyptian riot police locked some of the protestors inside the party's building, preventing them from going out into the street, witnesses said.
Nour's wife Jameela Ismail had accused the ruling National Democratic Party of involvement in burning the party's building. She charged that the government had backed supporters of Mousa Mustafa Mousa, a rival party faction whom she accused of burning the building.
Many believe Nour's imprisonment was politically motivated after he mounted the election challenge to Mubarak, who has been in power since 1981.
