Egyptians voiced their opposition to the attacks on Iraq yesterday with anti-war demonstrations throughout the country.
In Cairo, the protests turned violent as several hundred protesters from the American University in Cairo joined opposition groups in an attempt to march on the US embassy.
Chanting "Shame on the USA" and "Down with Arab leaders" they broke through metal barricades ringing the city's main central square. Organisers said they wanted to occupy the embassy and tell the Americans to leave the country. "The embassy in Tehran fell; so should the embassy here," a speaker from a leftist opposition party told a small crowd, referring to the 1979 takeover of the US embassy in the Iranian capital.
In the event, a four-deep phalanx of riot police blocked the demonstrators before they could approach the fortress-like embassy building. Several hundred protesters threw rocks; the police responded with baton-charges and water cannon, injuring a number of demonstrators.
The embassy was closed yesterday, as were US schools and other institutions. American fast-food restaurants around the central Tahrir Square had also been advised to close their doors for the day. The city's thousands of American expatriates kept a low profile.
In a relaxation of the government's usual ban on public protest, the demonstration was allowed to continue for several hours despite the violence.