Cairo: Protesters demand Israeli ambassador leave Egypt

Egyptian security forces deployed in area amid fears "Million-man march" could turn violent; Iran: Protesters gather in Tehran.

By JPOST.COM STAFF, OREN KESSLER
Egyptians hit Israeli flag 311 (photo credit: REUTERS)
Egyptians hit Israeli flag 311
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Hundreds of people were protesting outside the Israeli Embassy in Cairo on Friday demanding that the ambassador be removed from the country. The protests came amid tensions between the two countries following the deaths of three Egyptian security officers who were apparently shot by IDF troops last week.
Egyptian security forces were deployed in the area around the embassy amid fears that the demonstrations, dubbed the "Million-man march" could turn violent.
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In Tehran, hundreds of protesters gathered in the streets to mark "Jerusalem Day" in an anti-Israel rally.
On Sunday, hundreds of Egyptians demonstrated in front of the Israeli Embassy in Cairo, vowing to continue a two-day rally until the ambassador’s expulsion.
Protests took a dramatic turn in the afternoon when a demonstrator scaled the 21- story building housing the embassy to take down the Israeli flag.
Ahmed al-Shahat – a 23-yearold building contractor from the eastern Nile Delta dubbed the “Egyptian Spiderman” – instantly become a national icon.
Hamdeen Sabahy, a presidential candidate with the Nasserist Dignity Party, issued a statement saluting Shahat, “the public hero who burned the Zionist flag that spoiled the Egyptian air for 30 years.”
In an interview with Al Jazeera’s recently launched Egyptian channel, Shahat said he gave a thumbs-up sign to an army officer standing behind a window on the building’s eighth floor, and the officer returned the favor.