Egypt arrests Brazilian tourist over sexual harassment video on Twitter

Footage of man abusing the worker verbally sparks social media outrage

Cars pedestrians are pictured in one of the Egyptian capital Cairo's popular streets, shortly before the first day of a two-weeks night-time curfew imposed by the authorities to contain the spread of Show more

Egyptian security officials on Sunday arrested a Brazilian tourist visiting the city of Giza after he posted a video to social media of him verbally abusing a papyrus saleswoman.

The upload led to harsh criticism online and calls for the man's arrest.

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The Ministry of Interior said it arrested "a foreigner who harassed a girl and posted a video exhibiting the incident on social media".

It said security officials identified the accused man, reportedly a doctor, through his social-media profile. He is in custody, waiting to appear before a prosecutor.

The incident attracted a huge amount of interest across social media in Egypt, becoming a top trending topic on Twitter on Sunday.

A hashtag calling for the man to be reprimanded has been used by thousands of social media patrons.

The video shows him using sexual profanities in Portuguese at a bazaar saleswoman working at the hotel at which he was staying.

She does not understand them and the man is accused of hiding behind this to harass her, a charge compounded by his decision to post the abuse online.

Egyptian feminist platform Speak Up drew attention to the video which had already been widely shared and criticised in Brazil.

After calls for his arrest on social media, the man deleted the video and posted another apologising for his action.

But the apology failed to appease his critics, who insisted he should face justice.