Israeli Embassy updates: Police arrest 17 protesters

4:29am: Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr cancels his European tour, returns to Cairo to attend the cabinet’s “crisis” meeting.

4:21am: “Attacking the Israeli Embassy is an irresponsible act,” says Amr Hamzawy, co-founder of the liberal Egypt Freedom party.

4:17am: Presidential hopeful Hamdeen Sabahy, chairman of the pan-Arabism Karama party, condemns violence against police.

4:12am: Police arrest 17 protesters.

4:04am: Central Security Forces are trying to disperse around 2000 protesters who are still fighting back around the embassy. Eyewitnesses said some protesters are seriously injured.

3:24am: Scores of private cars parking close to the Giza Police Directorate, few hundred meters away from the Israeli Embassy, were damaged by protesters, State TV reports. Al-Masry Al-Youm could not independently verify the report.

3:13am: Israeli Ambassador to Egypt Yitzhak Levanon and family leave Cairo Airport heading to Jerusalem aboard an Israeli military plane.

3:12am: Pro-democracy April 6 Youth Movement condemns storming the Israeli Embassy in Cairo, says such acts might have negative repercussions on the revolution’s course. 

3:07am: Police use tear gas and water cannons to disperse protesters around Israeli embassy. Witnesses said gunshots were heard.

3:03am: State TV quoting an anonymous source at the Interior Ministry as saying that “foreign hands behind the attack on Israeli embassy in Cairo.”

2:48am: Al-Jazeera TV reports that electricity was cut off to the 22-store building housing the Israeli Embassy in Cairo.

2:30am: Prominent Islamic Preacher Safwat Hegazy rejects storming Israeli Embassy, condones destroying protective concrete fence.

2:22am: A medical official told State TV that number of people injured in clashes between protesters and security forces near the Israeli Embassy in Cairo have reached 448.

2:18am: Sporadic clashes continue between security forces and protesters near the embassy. Health Ministry dispatched 20 ambulances to treat the injured.   

2:00am: State TV reports that Interior Minister Mansour al-Essawy has declared a “state of maximum alert”, canceled vacations for policemen.

1:55am: Prime Minister Essam Sharaf summons his cabinet “crisis team” for a meeting on Saturday’s morning.