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Egyptian police arrested Tuesday a man alleged to be a paedophile caught on a surveillance camera assaulting a young girl in footage that went viral, the interior ministry said.

"Security agencies were able to detain the person in question... to determine the circumstances of the incident that spread on social networking site Facebook showing a person sexually assaulting a girl in Maadi district in Cairo," a statement by the ministry said.

It is not clear exactly when the footage was recorded, but it went viral on social media on Monday night, with many users calling for the perpetrator's prompt arrest.

It showed a man abusing a minor near the staircase of a residential building in the upmarket suburb of the capital. 

He was confronted by a woman who opened the door of her apartment, an interruption that enabled the girl to escape, the footage showed. The woman then pointed to a surveillance camera recording the incident. 

The arrested man was referred to the prosecutor, the ministry's statement added.

Al-Azhar, the world's foremost authority on Sunni Islam and based in Egypt, on Tuesday decried paedophilia in a tweet as "an aggressive crime that goes against any religion or humanity and must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law".

Egypt's #Metoo movement has picked up momentum since last year with many women coming forward to share testimonies of sexual misconduct.

United Nations surveys say most women in the deeply conservative country have been subject to harassment ranging from catcalling, to pinching, groping and rape.

Agencies contributed to this report.