Hundreds Tear Down Compound Walls, Breach Building, Dump Hebrew-Language Documents Out Window, Ambassador Evacuated…

The Last Refuge / Posted on September 9, 2011 by sundancecracker

We have been talking about it…. It looks like it’s started...  CAIRO (AP) — A group of about 30 protesters [note looks more like 3,000 to me /SD] broke into the Israeli Embassy in Cairo Friday and dumped hundreds of documents out of the windows after a day of demonstrations outside the building in which crowds swinging sledge hammers and using their bare hands tore apart the embassy’s security wall.

Protesters use a light pole to knock down a concrete wall built in front of the Israeli embassy in Cairo September 9, 2011. Activists on Friday tore down the wall, built to protect it from demonstrators, witnesses said. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

Israel’s ambassador, Yitzhak Levanon, his family and other embassy staff were waiting at Cairo’s airport for a military plane to evacuate them, said airport officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Hundreds of protesters converged on the embassy throughout the afternoon and into the night, tearing down large sections of the graffiti-covered security wall outside the 21-story building housing the embassy. Egyptian security forces made no attempt for hours to intervene.

Egyptians demolish a concrete wall built around a building housing the Israeli Embassy in Cairo, Egypt, to protect it against demonstrators Friday, Sept. 9, 2011. Hundreds of Egyptian protesters tore down parts of a graffiti-covered security wall that had recently been put up near the entrance of the Israeli Embassy in Cairo. Egyptian security forces did not intervene as crowds climbed the embassy security wall, pummeled it with hammers and tore away large sections of the barrier. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

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.

Egyptian activists burn a depiction of an Israeli flag as they demolish a concrete wall built around a building housing the Israeli embassy in Cairo, Egypt, to protect it against demonstrators, Friday, Sept. 9, 2011. Hundreds of Egyptian protesters tore down parts of a graffiti-covered security wall that had recently been put up near the entrance of the Israeli Embassy in Cairo. Egyptian security forces did not intervene as crowds climbed the embassy security wall, pummeled it with hammers and tore away large sections of the barrier. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

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. (read more)