A woman was arrested on Tuesday in Matrouh province, northwest of Cairo, for flying balloons bearing anti-government slogans.
Matrouh’s security chief, Anany Hammouda, told independent daily Al-Shorouk that “police arrested a housewife and a member of the Muslim Brotherhood with 76 balloons in her possession bearing abusive slogans against the state and its president”.
The woman had flown the balloons at one of the province’s beaches, and was arrested with a marker that she had used to write on the balloons, according to Hammouda.
He added that the “suspect had been detained after admitting to the confiscated possessions pending referral to general prosecution”.
The new military-backed government, led by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, has not tolerated criticism or political dissent, frequently jailing protesters and accusing them of being terrorists belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood, the now banned Islamist political opposition group.
