Special to WorldTribune.com

CAIRO — Prosecutors have accused Muslim Brotherhood protesters of
receiving money to attack the Israeli embassy in Egypt in 2011.

The Supreme State Security Emergency Court has presided over the trial
of 76 Islamists accused of attacking the embassies of Israel and Saudi
Arabia last year.

Prosecutors have asserted that the protests in September
2011, in which two people were killed and hundreds injured, were organized, and attackers received money to storm the Israeli and Saudi diplomatic facilities.

On March 26, an Egyptian security officer, identified as Capt. Mahmoud Hamada, testified to seeing a defendant pay demonstrators to remain at the protests. Hamada also cited the storming of a security force facility in Cairo in 2011, which included attackers wielding blades.

The Sept. 9 attack on the Israeli embassy saw hundreds of protesters breaking into the compound and rushing the embassy, located on the 18th floor of an office tower. Egyptian security forces, after high-level consultations between Cairo, Israel and the United States, stormed the
facility and stopped the protesters from assaulting the remaining Israeli
embassy staffers.

Testimony by Hamada as well as another officer, Capt. Ashraf Abdul
Gawad, did not cite the source of the money to the protesters. The
defendants have been charged with assault, possession of dangerous weapons
and damaging property.

  76 Islamists on trial, Capt. Mahmoud Hamada, Egyptian official testifies, Muslim Brotherhood paid protesters at Israeli embassy, Saudi embassies, Sept. 9 attack on Israeli embassy, Supreme State Security Emergency Court