A demonstration was held at noon today to protest the arrival to Egypt of Israelis to celebrate the moulid (an annual religious festival to mark the birthday of a saint or head of a religious order) of Abu Hasira, a Jewish Rabbi.

The protest was planned to be held in front of the Damanhour Preliminary Court, but 25 protestors were arrested. Following the arrests the 200 protestors who gathered there moved briefly to the lawyers club before heading back to the court.  

The demonstration included members of Mohamed El-Baradei's National Association for Change and supporters of Hamdeen Sabahi, journalist and founder of the would-be El-Karama party, a Nasserist leaning group as well as members of  the Ghad, the Nasserist Party, Democratic Front, Wafd and Tagammu parties in addition to the anti-Mubarak Kifaya coalition.

A 19th-century Moroccan Jewish rabbi, Abu Hasira's mausoleum is located in the village of Damatiuh, outside the delta city of Damanhour, where he died while travelling to Jerusalem in the 1880s.

The protestors also voiced their anger that the government has failed to respect the 2001 Alexandria Supreme Administrative Court ruling to cancel the festival.

“In our opinion Abu Hasira is a lie," says Hossam Mones, a member of Sabahi’s campaign. “He is buried in Morocco and they only use this as an excuse to come into Egypt. We as Nasserists are against the Zionist body and any form of normalization with them.”

At the end of the protest the Israeli flag was burned and trampled on. Most activists were released and only three Sabahi supporters remain in custody.

Earlier today, Ikhwanonline, the Muslim Brotherhood’s news portal had said the demonstration will be held to protest the “desecration of the land of Damanhour by Zionists.”

On Sunday, three flights from Tel Aviv arrived in Cairo carrying 550 Israeli passengers headed to Abu Hasira. It is yet unknown how many have arrived to date, but it is expected that hundreds more will attend the eight day festival.