A major diplomatic incident was under way on Friday night as Egyptian protesters stormed the Israeli embassy in Cairo, ransacking its contents and forcing officials to flee.
Hundreds of protesters converged on the Israeli embassy throughout the afternoon
Egypt declared a state of emergency as US President Barack Obama expressed “great concern” in a phone call to Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He called on Egypt to protect the embassy from demonstrators, a White House spokesman said.
Israeli diplomats were last night preparing to evacuate the country by military plane, according to Egyptian officials.
Egypt has been a regional ally of Israel but since the fall of Hosni Mubarak in February, there have been calls in the country to end the historic 1979 peace treaty.
Anger increased last month after Israeli forces responding to a cross-border militant attack mistakenly killed five Egyptian police officers near the border.
Friday night’s demonstration quickly escalated with crowds pummeling the security wall with sledge hammers, reportedly as military police looked on.
No comments:
Post a Comment