Egyptian journalists demand sacking of minister

CAIRO: Thousands of Egyptian journalists called on Thursday for the presidency to dismiss the interior minister and apologise for a police raid on the press syndicate and arrest of two opposition reporters, witnesses said.

Defying a heavy police presence outside their union, around 3,000 journalists attended an emergency meeting to protest against the arrest on Sunday of Mahmoud El Sakka and Amr Badr who work for the opposition website Bawabet Yanayer.

The arrests came as authorities try to quell rising dissent against President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

Hundreds of officers were deployed in central Cairo after protests last month against his decision to hand two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia.

Thousands of demonstrators called on April 15 for "the downfall of the regime", a slogan from the 2011 Arab uprisings.