Thousands of police sealed off the centre of Cairo

Ahmad Mekki of the judges club said the panel reprimanded Hisham Bastawisi and cleared his colleague, Mahmoud Mekki.

The verdict came as Egyptian police clamped down on demonstrators supporting the judges in Cairo by sealing off the city centre and arresting over 200 members of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Protesters, who had come out to show support for the two men facing disciplinary proceedings, were kicked and clubbed by plain-clothes security men.

The judges' case has provoked clashes between police and demonstrators, and on Thursday thousands of officers sealed off the centre of Cairo.

Hundreds of arrests were made, the majority being members of the Muslim Brotherhood opposition group, which is officially illegal.

Abdel Moneim Abul Futtuh, one of the Islamist movement's leaders, said: "A total of 210 of our supporters have been rounded since this morning."

He told AFP that among those arrested were the movement's spokesman Issam al-Aryan and the former leader of the Muslim Brothers' parliamentary group Mohammed Mursi.

Thuggish behaviour

Issam al-Aryan was among those arrested, the Brotherhood said

Another 50 members had been detained on Wednesday in the Nile Delta town of Shibin al-Kom.

In the face of a massive police presence, protesters gathered in small groups and dispersed when thugs moved in to attack them, witnesses said.

In a crowded market area north of the High Court complex, photographer Tara Todras-Whitehill said thugs backed by riot police chased a group of about 800 people down the street and attacked any stragglers.

"They took those closest to the end while the other demonstrators dispersed. I saw at least 20 people being beaten with fists and kicks and short clubs," she said.

In one of the city's main shopping avenues, security men hemmed in about 200 protesters affiliated to the Kefaya (Enough) Movement, which campaigned last year to stop President Hosni Mubarak getting a new term in office.

One of the two judges, Mekky, went to the High Court complex with a large delegation of judges but set conditions for attending the disciplinary hearing.

Judicial demands

As the judges passed, supporters threw roses at them from the steps of the Journalists Syndicate, a popular protest spot.

Plainclothes police officers arrest protesters in Cairo

Mekky said the judges wanted security forces to leave the area, release everyone detained for protesting, and the judicial authorities to remove Fathi Khalifa, the president of the Court of Cassation, from the disciplinary committee.

His colleague, Bastawisi, did not attend because he had a heart attack on Wednesday and is still in hospital.

In the same High Court building on Thursday, the Court of Cassation rejected an appeal from imprisoned opposition leader Ayman Nour, and confirmed his five year jail sentence handed out last year on forgery charges which he and his supporters say are fabricated.

The United States and the European Union criticised the way the Egyptian authorities handled similar protests last week.

In response the Egyptian government has said that media coverage of last week's beatings was misleading and the protesters broke the law because they did not have permits.

Opposition groups say the authorities never issued permits for their protests so there is no point in asking for them.

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