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Violence escalates in Egypt after attack on Israeli Embassy

Cairo (CNN) -- Streets in Cairo looked like a war zone Saturday as nonstop clashes between security forces and protesters intensified through the morning.

The violence comes after an attack on the Israeli Embassy on Friday.

Cabinet officials will meet in an emergency session Saturday to discuss the attack, a government spokesman said.

More than 12 hours after clashes erupted, gunfire could still be heard near the building on Saturday morning. Fires burned beneath the early morning sky, and rocks and burning tires littered the streets.

Police fired tear gas into the crowd and gunshots into the air outside the building, which is across the Nile River from central Cairo.

The Israeli ambassador to Egypt fled to Tel Aviv early Saturday, along with members of his family, staff and security, said Army Lt. Col. Amr Imam.

Mohamed Hegazy, the spokesman for the prime minister, announced the alert and the canceling of police vacations after Egyptian protesters tore down a wall surrounding the building that houses the Israeli Embassy and entered its offices.

Once inside, the protesters threw papers bearing Hebrew from the windows and into the streets. The offices were empty because Friday is a weekend day in Egypt.

Initially, police and military forces took no action as demonstrators destroyed the wall that had protected the high-rise building. Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said about 3,000 protesters had torn apart the wall.

An Egyptian commander at the embassy told CNN that security personnel had been ordered to avoid confrontations with protesters.

Police had been guarding the entrance to the building, which houses the embassy on the 12th floor and private dwellings on other floors.

The commander said the wall had been erected recently to protect the residents, not the Israeli Embassy.

The Ministry of Health reported 520 injuries.

One man died of a heart attack after the protests, Imam said.

Protesters cheered the demolition and chanted for the ouster of Israel's ambassador. The demonstrators were among thousands of Egyptians who took to the streets Friday.

Many protesters converged on Cairo's Tahrir Square to demand reforms in a turnout they had dubbed "correcting the path of the revolution."

Since the revolution that ousted President Hosni Mubarak in February, many Egyptians have called for the end of diplomatic relations with the Jewish state. The two nations signed a peace treaty in 1979.

Egyptians have been angry about the killing of five Egyptian police officers by Israeli soldiers last month when Israel went after militants who had attacked civilians near the Israeli-Egyptian border.

Meanwhile, protesters at Tahrir Square criticized the performance of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces and the government in the wake of Mubarak's ouster.

Protesters want the abolishment of military tribunals, the establishment of minimum and maximum wages, permission for Egyptians abroad to vote in the coming elections and the announcement of dates for those elections.

They are also calling for the removal of former ruling party members from banks, schools, universities and government institutions.

Mubarak is charged with corruption as well as ordering the killing of protesters to quash the uprising that ultimately ended his 30-year rule. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Israeli goverment successed to increase the numbers of israeli haters all around the globe. I love palestine and I support their right to live free in free world. Israeli people if u wanna live in peace choose the right government that can represent you and stop settlements and killing which is being supported by the USA
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