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Egyptian protesters storm part of Israeli embassy

Arab World Materials 10 September 2011 02:44 (UTC +04:00)

Egyptian protesters on Friday stormed a flat affiliated with the Israeli embassy in Cairo, witnesses said, dpa reported.

The apartment, used to store archive material, is on the 18th floor of the building where the embassy occupies the 20th and 21st floors. Demonstrators dumped papers out of the window.

Hundreds of protesters gathered in front of the building housing the embassy, breaking down a concrete wall meant to protect the building.

Protesters used large wooden poles and hammers to knock down the barrier. Others danced, sang and carried Egyptian flags.

Shortly after the wall was toppled, one of the protesters climbed the building and pulled down the Israeli flag for the second time in less than a month.

In August, another protester was hailed as a hero when he replaced the Israeli flag with an Egyptian one.

Clashes erupted briefly between protesters and security, throwing rubble at each other. At least 88 people were injured in the fighting, the Health Ministry said.

Protesters also set fire to three police cars, a security source told the German Press Agency dpa.

Security forces erected the concrete 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.

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