Cairo: Egyptian police quashed a few small protests across the country on Friday as calls for an uprising against the rising cost of living largely went unheeded.
In Cairo, where police had deployed in force in anticipation of protests, seven alleged demonstrators were arrested, a security official said.
Police also quickly scattered several dozen protesters who assembled in the port city of Suez.
There had been calls on social media, backed by the banned Muslim Brotherhood opposition group, for protests on Friday against rising prices and President Abdul Fattah Al Sissi.
In the run up to Friday, the interior ministry had announced the arrests of alleged Brotherhood members planning violence on the day.
Unlicensed protests had been banned in Egypt after the military overthrew Islamist president Mohammad Mursi in 2013 and cracked down on his followers.
After months of a dollar crunch that caused a slump in imports, Egypt last week floated the pound, drastically depreciating its value.Inflation, currently at 14 per cent, is expected to rise.
The government said the move, part of an austerity programme in tandem with a $12 billion IMF loan, could no longer be postponed.
