Protesters dump Hebrew documents from windows, tear down Israeli flag and bring down large sections of a security wall built following public demands for the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador. Published 01:45 10.09.11
A group of about 30 protesters broke into the Israeli Embassy in Cairo Friday and dumped hundreds of documents out of the windows, Egyptian and Israeli officials said. Meanwhile, the U.S. president spoke with Israel's prime minister about the situation.
Hundreds of protesters had been converging on the embassy throughout the afternoon and into the night, tearing down large sections of a security wall outside the 21-story building housing the embassy. Egyptian security forces made no attempt for hours to intervene.
Just before midnight, a group of protesters reached a room on one of the embassy's lower floors at the top of the building and began dumping Hebrew-language documents from the windows, said an Egyptian security official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
In Jerusalem, an Israeli official confirmed the embassy had been broken into, saying it appeared the group reached a waiting room on the lower floor. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not permitted to release the information.
No one answered the phone at the embassy late Friday.
Meanwhile, U.S. President Barak Obama spoke with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the situation at the Israeli Embassy in Cairo.
The President's office said in a statement that Obama expressed great concern about the situation at the Embassy, and the security of the Israelis serving there.
The statement said Obama "reviewed the steps that the United States is taking at all levels to help resolve the situation without further violence, and to call on the Government of Egypt to honor its international obligations to safeguard the security of the Israeli Embassy."
Obama and Netanyahu agreed to stay in close touch until the situation is resolved.
Earlier that evening an Egyptian protester pulled down the Israeli flag at the Jewish state's embassy in Cairo, the second time in less than a month.
A protester climbed the building, where the Israeli embassy occupies the top floor, and took down the flag, witnesses said. Last month, another protester was hailed as a hero when he replaced the Israeli flag with an Egyptian one.
The Israeli flag was taken down after hundreds of protesters gathered to break down a concrete wall meant to protect the building.
Protesters used large wooden poles and hammers to knock down the wall. Others were dancing, singing and carrying Egyptian flags.
Security forces erected the wall earlier this month, after thousands of angry Egyptians protested for more than a week outside the embassy, demanding that Egypt's military rulers expel the Israeli ambassador.
Five Egyptian police officers died in August in an Israeli airstrike against Palestinian militants along the Egyptian border. The deaths have triggered outrage in Egypt, causing the worst diplomatic crisis with Israel since the two countries signed a peace treaty in 1979.
