Egyptians clash with police at Algeria’s Cairo embassy

Protestors hurled stones and firebombs at police near the Algerian embassy in Cairo on Friday, wounding 11 officers as anger mounted over attacks on Egyptians after the countries’ World Cup qualifier.

The interior ministry said 11 officers were hurt and 15 cars were damaged in the violence. Four store fronts were also destroyed, the ministry said in a statement.

The protest started on Thursday night on a street leading to the embassy, where riot police repeatedly turned back an angry crowd.

The several hundred demonstrators chanted anti-Algerian slogans and sang their national anthem, burning Algerian flags.

“We should treat Algeria like any country that has declared war on us,” said Amr Higazi, a university student holding a placard calling for the expulsion of the Algerian ambassador.

The demonstrators were enraged by reports of attacks against Egyptian fans in Khartoum on Wednesday after a World Cup qualification decider with Algeria, and demanded the expulsion of the Algerian ambassador.

Egyptian fans told AFP that stones were thrown at their bus as they made their way back to Khartoum airport after the 1-0 defeat, which followed a 2-0 victory for the Pharoahs in Cairo on Saturday that led to the play-off.

Egypt’s Health Minister Hatem al-Gabali said 21 Egyptians were lightly wounded in the attacks, a number disputed by Sudanese police, which said four Egyptians were wounded.

Sudan summoned Egypt’s envoy in Khartoum to protest Egyptian media reports of security lapses in Khartoum that allowed Algerians to attack Egyptian fans.

Egypt recalled its ambassador from Algeria on Thursday for consultations and summoned the Algerian envoy in Cairo to protest the attacks.

It was the second summons in a week for Ambassador Abdelkader Hadjar, who was called to the foreign ministry last week after Algerian fans attacked Egyptian businesses and homes in Algiers.

Before the match in Cairo, several Algerian footballers were hurt after the team bus was stoned on the way from the airport to the team hotel. Buses carrying Algerian fans were stoned after the game in Cairo.

World football governing body FIFA said on Thursday it had begun disciplinary proceedings against the Egyptian Football Association over the attack on the Algerian team, which Egyptian security officials insisted was staged by the Algerians.

“Disciplinary proceedings have been opened against the Egyptian Football Association. The FIFA Disciplinary Committee will decide on the case,” the organisation said in a statement on its website.

People took to the streets in Algiers after the match in Cairo, attacking 15 offices belonging to a local subsidiary of Egypt’s Orascom Telecom and twice ransacking the Algiers offices of Egypt Air.

The attacks prompted Orascom to pull out 25 Egyptian employees and their families.

Arab League chief Amr Mussa on Friday called for calm in the row between Algeria and Egypt.

“I call for a return to calm and reason on the Arab street. The affair must be restored to its true proportions, after all the Egyptians like the Algerians are Arabs,” he told AFP.

“What has happened is deplorable. This outburst of anger in these two great Arab countries must stop,” said Mussa, who was in Dubai for a forum organised by the World Economic Conference.