Egypt has seen a wave of arrests following small but rare anti-government protests over the weekend Police quickly dispersed the protests, but they marked a startling eruption of street unrest CAIRO: Egyptian lawyers say security forces arrested three political activists known for their outspoken criticism of Egypt’s government and the president. Egypt has seen a wave of arrests following small but rare anti-government protests over the weekend. Police quickly dispersed the protests, but they marked a startling eruption of street unrest. Demonstrations have been almost completely silenced in recent years under President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi. The lawyers, Nour Farahat and Khaled el-Masry, say the three detained activists are Hazem Hosny, Hassan Nafaa and Khaled Dawood. The lawyers said Dawood was arrested Wednesday. He’s an opposition leader and former head of the liberal Al-Dustour party. Hosny and Nafaa are both political science professors at Cairo University, and were arrested Tuesday. El-Masry says security forces have detained over 1,200 people in the last week.