Police detained five members of the main opposition Muslim Brotherhood in Cairo Sunday, along with 20 staff of a construction company owned by one of them, security sources said. It was the latest move in an escalating crackdown on the group, which holds 20 percent of the seats in parliament, since student members held a controversial paramilitary-style parade earlier this month. More than 100 Islamist students and teachers were detained in a major swoop in the immediate aftermath of the campus demonstration on Dec. 14.

Authorities also prevented the Brotherhood s official spokesman Essam Al-Aryan from attending an Islamist conference in Qatar on Dec. 20.