CAIRO: The Military police arrested on Sunday 92 new suspects believed to be involved in the recent clashes near the Israeli embassy and the Giza Security Directorate, official Middle East News Agency (MENA) reported. Nineteen others were arrested earlier for attempting to storm the nearby Giza police directorate, the report added. A military source said the general prosecution will be interrogating the suspects before referring them to the emergency state security court. Interior Ministry spokesman General Marwan Moustafa told Daily News Egypt the investigations had not yet revealed the details of the clashes that erupted late on Friday and in the early hours of Saturday. On Friday, hundreds of protesters converged on the Israeli embassy, tearing down a large graffiti-covered security wall outside the 21-story building where the embassy is located. The wall was erected on a bridge that runs along the street on which the building is located. It was built following ongoing protests against the killing of five Egyptian policemen by Israeli forces on the Sinai border last month. One more policeman died later on Friday of sustained injuries during the attack. Other demonstrators attempted to attack the nearby Giza police directorate and the Saudi embassy. The protesters eventually engaged in clashes with police and army forces, which resulted in killing three and injuring 1,049 including policemen, according to the health ministry. The Israeli ambassador, his family and working staff left Cairo on board an Israeli military plane hours later. Late Friday night, about 30 protesters stormed into the Nile-side high-rise building throwing documents from the windows. They broke into the consular section and the embassy's archive, setting fires and breaking windows, Israel-based Jerusalem Post reported on Sunday. The protesters used both the stairway and the elevators to enter the offices, while others jumped onto the balcony of the embassy from nearby buildings. Anti-Israel graffiti was sprayed throughout the offices, the report added. An Israeli official told Haaretz that diplomatic documents thrown from the windows of the tower block appeared to be "pamphlets and forms kept at the foyer." Protesters also brought down the Israeli flag, the second similar incident in less than a month. The embassy is housed on the 16th-19th floors of the building. Eye-witnesses said no security forces attempted to prevent protesters at first from gathering outside the embassy. When the protester moved to the nearby security directorate, police dispersed them using tear gas and gunshots fired in the air. Security expert General Fouad Allam believes the recent developments represent "a serious indicator." "There is a serious security situation that needs to be strictly dealt with or else there will be grave consequences especially ahead of elections," Allam told DNE. "It will be difficult to secure the electoral process if the current security situation persists." Egypt has been undergoing a state of security vacuum since the January 25 uprising broke out. "I call for enacting a law that regulates holding protests and sit-ins in a way that does not disrupt the public order or people's daily life," Allam said. A joint ruling army council-Cabinet meeting decided on Saturday to activate all articles of the controversial emergency law, in place since the assassination of president Anwar Sadat in 1981. A key demand of the revolutionaries throughout the January 25 uprising was to end the state of emergency. The law restricts personal freedoms and the right to hold public meetings or gatherings. It gives police powers to act according to mere suspicion. In 2010, its application was limited to drug and terrorism related crimes, but activists said the restrictions were only on paper as the law was used against them. A few months ago, SCAF said the emergency law will be lifted before the parliamentary elections, to be held in November. Information Minister Osama Heikal said on Saturday, authorities would take all necessary steps to preserve order, including the protection of embassies. Calling the unrest an "attack on Egypt's image", he added: "It is clear that the behavior of certain people menaces the Egyptian state in its entirety." And he warned: "Exceptional circumstances demand decisive judicial measures." Consequently, "security forces will have recourse to all necessary measures, including the right to legitimate self-defense, to preserve the security of the homeland." And he affirmed Egypt's "total commitment to respecting international conventions, including the protection of all (diplomatic) missions." Interior Minister Mansour El-Eissawy declared a state of high alert, cancelling all police leave. –Additional reporting by agencies.
