DTN News - EGYPT ISRAEL RELATIONS WORSEN: Egyptians Tear Down Israel Embassy's Security Wall
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - September 9, 2011: Hundreds of Egyptian protesters, some swinging hammers and others using their bare hands, tore down parts of a graffiti-covered security wall outside the Israeli Embassy in Cairo on Friday. Thousands elsewhere protested for the first time in a month against the country's military rulers.
Seven months after the popular uprising that drove Mubarak from power, Egyptians are still pressing for a list of changes, including more transparent trials of former regime figures acused of corruption and a clear timetable for parliamentary elections.
Egyptians have grown increasingly distrustful of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, which took control of the country when Mubarak was forced out on Feb. 11 after nearly three decades in power. The council, headed by Mubarak's defense minister, Field Marshall Hussein Tantawi, has voiced its support for the revolution and those who called for democracy and justice.
But activists accuse it of remaining too close to Mubarak's regime and practicing similarly repressive policies, including abusing detainees. The trials of thousands of civilians in military courts has also angered activists.
"In the beginning we were with the military because they claimed to be protectors of the revolution, but month after month nothing has changed," said doctor Ghada Nimr, one of those who gathered in Tahrir Square.
One banner in Cairo read, "Egyptians, come out of your homes, Tantawi is Mubarak."
Outside the Israeli Embassy, protesters for the second time in less than a month pulled down the Israeli flag from atop the 21-story building.
Egyptian security forces did not intervene as crowds climbed up the embassy's security wall, pummeling it with sledge hammers and tearing away large sections of the cement and metal barrier, which was recently put up to better protect the property from protests.
Since Mubarak's fall, calls have grown in Egypt for ending the historic 1979 peace treaty with Israel, a pact that has never had the support of ordinary Egyptians. Anger increased last month after Israeli forces responding to a cross-border militant attack mistakenly killed five Egyptian police officers near the border.
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