CAIRO: Israel flew its ambassador home on Saturday after protesters stormed the building housing its embassy in Cairo, plunging Egypt’s ruling army deeper into its worst diplomatic crisis since it took over from Hosni Mubarak.
The United States, which has poured billions of dollars of military aid into Egypt since Cairo made peace with Israel in 1979, urged Egypt to protect the embassy after protesters hurled embassy documents and the Israeli flag from windows.
”Our dignity has been restored,” said Mohi Alaa, 24, who protested overnight and was speaking near the site of the clashes, where bits of concrete and bullet casings were strewn over the street.
”We don’t want the Americans’ money,” he said, reflecting a growing readiness among many Egyptians to express anger and frustration with Israel and its treatment of the Palestinians after decades of pragmatic official relations.
Police had fired shots in the air and teargas to disperse the crowd. Protesters had lit tyres in the street and at least two vehicles were set alight near the embassy, located on the upper floors of a residential block overlooking the Nile.
Medical sources said two protesters had been killed. A Reuters reporter saw a corpse in a hospital and a medical report saying his chest had been punctured.
The Health Ministry said 837 had been injured in protests at the embassy and security building in the area, with more than 200 transferred to hospital, the state news agency said. It said one had died from a heart attack.
As dawn broke, about 500 demonstrators remained and a few threw stones at police and army vehicles and personnel. But police gradually pushed them further away and secured the area.
It was the second big eruption of violence at the embassy since five Egyptian border guards were killed last month during an Israeli operation against cross-border raiders who Israel said were Palestinians. That incident prompted Egypt briefly to threaten to withdraw its envoy.
Israeli ambassador Yitzhak Levanon, staff and family members arrived home to, day but one diplomat stayed in Egypt to maintain the embassy, an Israeli official said.
Israel is finding itself increasingly at odds with formerly sympathetic states in the region. It is already embroiled in a feud with Turkey, formerly the closest of its few Muslim allies, over its treatment of the Palestinians.
Meanwhile Egypt’s generals, already under pressure to hand power to civilians more swiftly, must balance public calls for a more assertive foreign policy towards Israel with maintaining ties that bring cash and top-notch US military equipment.
Egyptian Prime Minister Essam Sharaf called a cabinet crisis meeting for early on Saturday.
Some politicians and activists criticised the violence, even if they backed the anti-Israel demonstration.
Presidential candidate Hamdeen Sabahy called for the army to take a ”serious stance matching the public anger” towards Israel, but said violence sullied the image of Egypt’s uprising.
Last month, a man climbed up a flagpole on the building, took down Israel’s flag and replaced it with Egypt’s. Protests continued daily but did not turn violent until the latest flare-up. (UNI)