ALEXANDRIA: Raucous demonstrations demanding the expulsion of Israel's ambassador erupted in Alexandria on Friday. The majority of demonstrators, roughly 150 in total, gathered at Qaed Ibrahim mosque in downtown Alexandria following Friday prayers before marching to the Israeli consulate – over 6 kilometers away – in the Kafr Abdu neighborhood. Awaiting the procession from Qaed Ibrahim, approximately 50 residents gathered around the unmarked Israeli consulate, intermittently singing “ya beladi” (“my country”) and chanting “down with Israel.” At around 3:00 PM the procession from Qaed Ibrahim reached Kafr Abdu, at which point the demonstrators collectively converged upon the Israeli consulate, forcing their way through the entrance and climbing to the roof, where they placed the Egyptian flag. At this, the roughly 200 demonstrators erupted into celebration, burning several Israeli flags from a second floor ledge while chanting “god is the greatest.” Shortly after, three army tanks arrived on the scene, removing demonstrators from inside the consulate building and blocking their re-entrance. The demonstrations come one week after the killing of Egyptian 3 army officers and two security personnel by Israeli aircraft near the Egypt-Israel border. A joint investigation is being conducted into the incident, but Israeli officials maintain that the deaths were the result of a cross border pursuit of several militants that had recently attacked the Israeli border city of Eilat. The killings as well as the demonstrations have served to exacerbate an already tense relationship between the neighboring countries, one that many suggest began to deteriorate following the ousting of former President Hosni Mubarak. BM
