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Yehia Hussein Abdel Hady, former spokesman for the Civil Democratic Movement - a coalition of secular political parties - was among those arrested since Monday, rights lawyer Negad Borai said.

The other five activists were detained on Monday after they attended a ceremony commemorating the uprising which toppled former President Hosno Mubarak, Borai said.

The five were members of the Karama Party - or Dignity - founded by opposition leader Hamdeen Sabahi, the only candidate who ran against President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi in the 2014 presidential election.

The whereabouts of the six activists are still unknown, Borai said. A spokesman for Egypt's interior ministry, which oversees police, did not respond to phone calls and messages seeking comment.

It is not clear if the activists are among 54 people who authorities said on Tuesday were detained for plotting to foment chaos on the anniversary of the uprising.

The interior ministry said those individuals - most of them alleged members of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group - were arrested over the past weeks in different locations.

Authorities waged a sweeping crackdown on dissent in recent years, reversing freedoms won in the popular uprising that toppled long-time autocrat Hosni Mubarak.

Security was especially tight around the eighth anniversary of the 25 January uprising and public commemorations of it were largely banned.

The latest arrests came just two days after Macron urged respect for human rights in a meeting with his Egyptian counterpart Sisi during a state visit to Cairo.

Authorities under Sisi have banned all unauthorised protests, blocked hundreds of websites and silenced nearly all independent media.

The Sisi regime claims such measures are needed to restore stability and combat an insurgency in the northern Sinai Peninsula that has gained strength since 2013.

Agencies contributed to this report.

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