The Egyptian authorities have detained senior Muslim Brotherhood leader Essam El-Erian as the crackdown against the Islamist movement goes on.

Erian is said to have been taken from a Cairo residence where he had been in hiding.

The Muslim Brotherhood Group was banned and many of its leaders detained after the army deposed Islamist president Mohamed Mursi last July.

At least 1000 people have died in the violence that followed.

Before his detention Erian had described the deposing of Mursi as a divergence from the true democratic path and called for dialogue.

Mursi supporters have called on Egyptians to hold mass protests on November 4, the day their leader goes on trial for inciting murder, raising the prospect of more bloodshed as the country’s political crisis drags on.