sending troops to Lebanon but would only support Beirut through diplomatic initiatives, activists staged a rally in front of Cairo's Al Azhar mosque to protest against his policy and express support for the Hezbollah guerrillas. Police showed up in force on Friday and suCairo, 28 July (AKI) - One day after Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak said his government would not berrounded the mosque. There were also protests outside other mosques in the capital.

Before Friday prayers started, roads around the mosque were closed and traffic - mostly of tourists visiting the roads near Khan al-Khalili, the city's main souk - was diverted for security reasons.

Many tourists however preferred to leave the neighbourhood, scared by the massive presence of security forces.

Police checked on the faithful before they entered the mosque to make sure they were not carrying banners or flags to stage a protest.

At the end of the prayer, hundreds of faithful crowded the streets of the ancient Muslim neighbourhood of Cairo while demonstrators remained inside the mosque and started chanting slogans against the Egyptian government and Israel. Police claimed some of them were carrying molotov cocktails.

Outside, while a few hundred agents entered the mosque, some plainclothes officers ordered to close the doors to make sure no activists could escape.

After a short while, a small crowd of faithful who were waiting for friends and relatives still inside the mosque started protesting and were taken away by force. A few metres away, Cairo's security chief Ismail al Shaer was seated at a cafe with two officers, watching the scene.

In the afternoon, hundreds of activists, mostly in their twenties and members of reformist movement Kifaya, were let outside the mosque. Over a dozen were arrested by police, according to the movement's leaders.

Other rallies were staged in the working-class neighbbourhoods of Giza and Shobra on Friday.

In front of the mosque of Istiqama in Giza, thousands of activists with the Muslim Brotherhood, a banned organization which is however tolerated by the Egyptian government, staged rallies and called for a victory of Hezbollah and a defeat of Israel and the United States.

Police blocked demonstrators to prevent them from reaching the Israeli embassy nearby.

Meanwhile about one thousand Muslim activists staged a sit-in in front of the el-Khazendar mosque against Israel's offensive on Lebanon.