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>> violence on the streets of cairo as hundreds of protesters attacked the israeli embassy. hundreds are reported to have been entered but the israeli ambassador has now left the country. broadcasting to our viewers on pbs in america and also around the globe. there have been a violent scenes in the egyptian capital. police vehicles were set on fire and demonstrators let fires in the streets outside the israeli and district -- embassy. police fired into the air to disperse the crowd of about 2000 people.

hundreds of protesters broke into the israeli embassy building using hammers and iron bars to demolish a security outside. the government has declared a state of maximum alert. the ambassador has now left the country. we're joined on the line now from cairo. the situation has been a very fluid this evening. it seems like the protesters have dispersed and then they regroup. what is happening there now? >> the scene is very chaotic. they are in accusing the security forces of firing at them and trying to kill them.

more than 100 people were injured. just a minute ago, there was a vehicle towards the security forces. they run away from security forces, and they come back. they are on their way back. i can see that they are very determined. they're made demands are they do not want the israeli embassy here. they do not want any more and israeli ambassadors in cairo. this is why we are seeing more

violence. the security forces, and they're very angry and wanted him to resign from his position. >> it is being reported that the israeli ambassador has actually left egypt and has flown home from the airport. is that something that protesters would be aware of? is it making any difference? >> i have been asking some protesters and there has been talking about the israeli ambassador has left. i talked to the protesters. they said, we do not want the embassy at all. they are accusing -- they are

expressing their anger toward the security forces. they want a strong decision to come out of the government for the killing of five egyptian soldiers. >> ok, live in cairo. thank you. we will -- the violence started morgan five hours ago. -- the violence started more than five hours ago. >> on the cairo's streets, at anger against israel is mixing would anger against egypt security forces. outside the israeli embassy building, it has become a battle for control. protesters threw bricks and bottles of the police tried to drive them off the streets.

when that was not enough, teargas was fired. the air became thick with choking fumes and the demonstrators back off. it followed several hours during which security forces had been pushed onto the defensive. the object of the protesters anger was the israeli embassy, housed in a multi-story building. thousands of demonstrators around the block and some broke in and skilled about the knees. -- balcony's. the israeli flag was brought into the crowd. >> i did not care about the risks. i was ready to die for taking down the flag. i wanted to be the enemy, killing my brothers. those still in my brother's must all die. >> the data began with a large protest in liberation square. it had been organized by secular and left wing groups.

about 1000 people marched from the square to the embassy building, several kilometers away. blocked by a whole wall. they began to tear it down with hammers and an improvised battering ram. eventually, it gave way and the crowd surged in sight. >> in the past few months, we all notice that life in egypt has not changed. the egyptian people have decided, after iraq -- after ramadan, to reassert themselves on the streets. it is a path of reform that the revolution should never wavered from. >> hundreds of documents were scattered into the streets. this anger against israel has been rising in egypt since mid- august. the trigger was israel's killing of five egyptian border guards during an operation against militants who killed 8 israelis.

combined with the existing frustrations in egypt about the granting lee slow pace of political change, it has produced a toxic atmosphere. there is no sign of the dissipating. the violence on the streets of cairo continues. >> he took part in the -- she took part in the protest. >> the protest started here. [inaudible] demanding -- and there was a market that led to the interior. there was a march that went to the israeli embassy. they knocked down the wall that

the government made last week to protect the embassy. it's a big couple of hours to not -- it took a couple of hours to knock this down. some of the protesters climbed the buildings, which had the israeli embassy. after a bit, i knew that they went up to the embassy with the documents. clashes were starting with the police, and it is still going on.

rubber bullets, tear-gas, i have seen a protester carried by other protesters. he was killed. i am not sure because i could not tell. >> were you still at outside the israeli embassy in this evening? we saw earlier on when the wall was originally pulled down that the scene was fairly calm there. it seems to got more violent this evening with the police firing tear gas at the protestors. >> what was the mood amongst protesters? what was the feeling outside the embassy? >> the scene was pretty much like what you have been seeing

for the past month. the last thing that happened was that the army police vans were driving after the protesters, exactly like the footage from january. [inaudible] very high speed toward the protesters. i did not exactly see if taking anyone. -- it hitting anyone. they were firing teargas and rubber bullets. people were saying, they are doing it all over again. nothing has changed. they are sick of waiting and sick of keeping calm and.

things have to change. everyone was very frustrated and very angry that after 8 months, we are being attacked by the state just the same, exactly the same as before. >> is there a feeling amongst people in egypt that this could be a turning point tonight? this violence, we will see more of an uprising against the situation, that it has not moved on from the situation as mubarak left it? >> what we are saying over and over again is that people, in the beginning, they asked nicely. when nothing happens, they tried to do things themselves. we have been protesting peacefully for months now. today was still a peaceful

protest. no one had weapons, they were only defending themselves. we've only defending ourselves from the police attacking us. for example, they have been protesting for almost a decade now. it has not changed. we have been asking to stop israeli efforts since -- nothing is happening. we are sick of asking. we will not ask any more. this embassy is not welcomed. we do not want israelis here. they have to go home. we do not want to have diplomatic relationships with the country. the people lead the way.

the people choose is what this country can have. this is what happened today. >> protesters in cairo. this is "bbc world news." more on the situation in cairo. demonstrators tried to storm the israeli embassy. we will get reaction from washington. libyan forces are close -- opposed to colonel gaddafi said they had entered bani walid. >> rebel fighters speeding to the front line as the battle for bani walid it's underway. this is coming off of days of brutal negotiations with hard- core a gaddafi loyalists. these rebels hope to drive

gaddafi's men out of bani walid for good. in the distance, the signs of battle. plans of smoke from rockets landed near rebel positions. it was not long before the rebels were coming back from the front lines, having captured their first prisoners. this batch of seven of gaddafi's men, apparently also included a brigadier. the rebels said there may be more than 600 of their opponents to flesh out. >> as far as we know, from our experience and from the prisoners we have, there are factors -- there are factors that are professional. -- fighters that are professional. >> ambulances have been carrying the injured from the battlefields. so far, casualty figures are looking quite low.

morale amongst the rebels seems to be very high. these rebels are taking control of towns like bani walid, it is extremely important. the revolution is not complete, and until they have seized control of the port towns with gaddafi loyalists, only then will they be able to declare victory. >> this is "bbc world news." there has been violence in the egyptian capital, demonstrators attacked the israeli embassy. more than 400 people have been injured. the israeli ambassador has now left the country. earlier i spoke with a political science student at the university of cairo. he was at the protest.

he described the scene. >> it caused quite chaotic when i arrived. some men had just climbed up the building that the israeli embassy is in anna taken down the flag. people cheered and went crazy when that happened. it is kind of a symbol of what the egyptians were doing tonight. it was chaotic, but they want to send a clear message to israel. you are just not welcome here. >> as far as you could see from those around you, these are ordinary egyptians, as far as you can tell, these are not just football again? >> no. the football hooligan's, i have seen them clearly during the

day. the group at the israeli embassy tonight, i will not say that to the soccer fans weren't there tonight, but they were not there at the way they were earlier. they were not organized and they were not chanting their football slogan. >> the scale of this protest and the damage being inflicted is something of a departure from those previously peaceful demonstrations that we have seen. why do you think a seventh -- things have suddenly changed again? >> party that has to do with frustration. the frustration at the rate of change that has happened in egypt. we have the revolution, how many months ago? many egyptians asks themselves, what has changed? certainly, the policy between egypt and israel are part of an

unchanging things that people want. >> how do you feel being in cairo tonight? seeing these scenes that we are seeing unfold? are you worried for your safety? are you worried that the violence is going to get worse? >> i do not fear that the violence is going to get worse. after tonight, after the ambassador left, i think we will see the situation in front of the embassy will calm down tomorrow. i think the pilots would surrounding that situation will end -- i think the violence surrounding that situation will end as well. >> how much talk has there been amongst egyptian people about the deaths of these police? this was last month, they were mistakenly killed by israeli forces after a cross border attack. it seems to be that that is what sparked the violence tonight.

how much coverage has that been getting? how upset our people about that? >> people are very upset about that. it is -- that could have acted as a trigger for a concern for not only egypt, but also for the people who lived on the west bank, who are seen as being brutally oppressed by the israeli government. >> taking you back to the scene when you were there this afternoon, we just going there as an interested bystander? >> i am involved, i was observing everything that was going on in cairo. i went there with a purpose.

i wanted to observe and report and make sure that people understood what was happening there. it was not just blind faith, it wasn't the protesters to brought to violence to that meeting. they did tear down the wall, ultimately, it was the security forces who first brought violence to the situation. >> we are hearing that security services and there stood by for many hours while the protesters were attacking the israeli embassy. they did nothing to begin with. did you see much of that? >> that is correct. when i arrived, the gypsy army was on the scene. they were not doing -- and the egyptian army was on the same. they were not doing anything except monitoring the situation. there were starting to tear

down that periphery wall. for many hours, a throughout the day, the central security forces allowed the egyptians to express themselves all over the city. it only began around 11:00 when they started to interfere. that is partly because they felt they could. it got dark comment they thought -- they felt they could finally advance of the people. >> a student at the university of cairo. earlier, president obama spoke by telephone to the israeli prime minister about the situation. we are in washington and have more details about the discussion. >> the white house issued a statement saying that president obama talked to the israeli prime minister. i have it in front of me,

expressing his great concern about the situation at the embassy and the security of the israelis serving there. he was trying everything he could to get the situation resolved and reminded the egyptian authorities of their international obligations with regard to diplomacy. it is of a serious concern among some american officials. we have independently heard from at reports from jerusalem that the israelis have been asking for all of the american help that they could possibly bring. >> what sort of steps is washington likely to take in response to these requests for help? >> at this stage, it is very difficult to tell what is going on. they are powerless from what we understand about what is going on on the ground. it seems to be a number of groups, protesters laying siege to the embassy. there is a very little that the u.s. can do.

what did will be doing is reminding egypt of its obligations and saying look, this could lead to all sorts of problems. you need to get this under control as soon as possible. we have heard that there is a possibility that there is a state of emergency which is being declared. >> the think it is significant and a sign of how serious the situation is that president obama has spoken out so quickly? >> i think certainly he is extremely concerned. the middle east has been under such unrest recently. there is the potential that these revelations that we have seen take on a life of their calling. they get hijacked by special interest groups. special interest groups that are perhaps very anti-israeli or have their own particular goals in mind. what he is trying to do is to remind egypt that it needs to

set itself on the main path before these kinds of events spiral out of control. >> we hear that protesters spent hours turned down a security well as outside the israeli embassy. police did not intervene while that was happening. words, arebama's elected to have any effect? >> the issue behind all this is the shooting of a number of egyptian police back in august. i think that set off a chain of events, which has led to various protests, various riots, including this one today. there is a lot of feeling, even amongst police, that israel has overstepped the mark, it has gone beyond what it should be able to do. it has resulted in the deaths of egyptian officials. it is difficult to see exactly

how it is going to end up, but i think the u.s. authorities are aware that the middle east is finally -- it is free difficult for them to see how this could possibly move on. >> there has been violence in cairo. the egyptian protesters have broken into the israeli embassy building in cairo after using hammers to demolish a barrier wall. police have fired tear gas and some vehicles were on fire. the government has called a state of alert and has called an emergency cabinet meeting. barack obama urged -- to protect the embassy after israel ask for help. the violence is for the killing

of five egyptian border called -- border guards last month. >> make sense of international news at bbc.com/news. >> funding was made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu. newman's own foundation. and union bank. >> union bank offers unique insight and expertise in a range of industries.

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