Egypt declares state of alert after attack on Israeli embassy

PanARMENIAN.Net - Egypt declared a state of alert after a group of 30 protesters broke into the Israeli embassy in Cairo on September 9 night and dumped hundreds of documents out of the windows, The Guardian reported.

The storming of the building came after a day of demonstrations outside where crowds swinging sledgehammers and using their bare hands tore apart the embassy's security wall. Hundreds of people converged on the embassy throughout the afternoon and into the night, tearing down large sections of the graffiti-covered security wall outside the 21-storey building. For hours, security forces made no attempt to intervene.

A security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because not authorized to speak to the media, said that one group of protesters reached a room on one of the embassy's floors at the top of the building just before midnight and began dumping Hebrew-language documents from the windows.

The prime minister, Essam Sharif, summoned a crisis cabinet meeting to discuss the situation.

The attack came two days before a scheduled visit by the Turkish prime minister to Cairo amid concern in Israel that he may seek an alliance between the two countries with the aim of increasing the Jewish state's isolation in the region.

According to Reuters, the Israeli ambassador to Egypt, his family and embassy staff arrived at Cairo airport apparently to fly out of the country. Airport sources said the ambassador, along with his staff and family, traveled to the airport under heavy security, and that they were at the VIP section awaiting a flight out. Dozens of Israelis in Egypt were also arriving to the airport to leave the country, they said.