CAIRO (AP) -- The opposition Muslim Brotherhood demonstrated in two Egyptian cities Sunday, protesting arrests that have targeted the group's leaders and potential candidates ahead of upcoming local elections, police and the movement said.

At least 280 members of the group have been arrested since February in the run-up to April's local council elections, in what the organization is calling an attempt to keep them from duplicating their 2005 electoral success, which netted them a fifth of the seats in Parliament.
At least 5,000 protesters, including 15 parliamentarians connected to the group, gathered in front of the local council building in the Nile Delta city of Tanta, 55 miles north of Cairo, and blocked the main street chanting anti-government slogans, a security official said on condition of anonymity, since he was not authorized to speak to the media.
The Brotherhood put the number of protesters at 10,000 and said that thousands of riot police surrounded the demonstrators and then dispersed them with water cannon.
The second demonstration took place in Egypt's Mediterranean city of Alexandria, where about 1,000 people protested in front of the local council there, the security official said. Some carried banners reading ""stop police intervention in local council elections.""
In February, movement leader Mohammed Mahdi Akef accused the government of trying to stop them from running in the elections by arresting all of their candidates. He vowed that the organization would participate no matter what.
The Brotherhood was has been officially banned since in 1954. However, its lawmakers run as independents.
Local councils have long been dominated by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's National Democratic Party, although they previously had little actual power and their elections were largely ignored.
However, their importance increased with constitutional amendments passed in 2005 that require would-be candidates for president to obtain 250 recommendations from parliament and council members to run.
The 4,500 municipal councils are responsible for services at district, town and village levels.
The Brotherhood advocates implementation of Islamic law but says it wants democratic reforms in Egypt, where the 79-year-old Mubarak has led an authoritarian government for a quarter century. The government accuses the group of seeking to take over the country.