Egypt strike flops amid heavy security

Cairo: A planned nationwide strike and series of demonstrations by pro-democracy activists in Cairo fizzled yesterday in the face of a massive security presence and widespread apathy.

Efforts to replicate a last year's strike in solidarity with Egyptian textile workers failed as most people in the busy, traffic-choked capital appeared to be going about their usual business.

Hundreds of riot police were stationed in downtown squares and around universities to prevent would-be demonstrators from taking to the streets.

Approximately a hundred activists gathered at the journalists' association headquarters and chanted anti-government slogans on the steps in front of hundreds of helmeted and black-clad riot police.

Hundreds of students also demonstrated on university campuses in Cairo and the southern city of Assiut.

Parliamentarians from the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood group, the largest opposition bloc with a fifth of parliament's seats, staged a walk out in solidarity with the strike call.

In the run up to the event, police arrested dozens of people around the country as a preventive measure, including both left-wing activists, students and members of the Brotherhood.