ADEN, Dec 30: Demonstrators in the Yemeni port city of Aden briefly broke into the Egyptian consulate on Tuesday in a protest against Cairo’s response to Israeli military offensive against the Palestinians in Gaza, a security official said.

The protesters, mostly students from the University of Aden, “vandalised furniture before they were removed peacefully from the building,” the official said, asking not to be identified.

Three staff members were inside the building at the time and were unhurt, another security official told AFP, also requesting anonymity.

He said one protester was wounded when a consular guard opened fire and that the protesters retaliated by setting fire to two consular vehicles.

More than 20 demonstrators were arrested, he added.

Witnesses said protesters burned the Egyptian and Israeli flags and raised a Palestinian flag on the building in the Khor Makssar neighbourhood. They said hundreds of people took part in the demonstration.

The incident was roundly condemned in Cairo by foreign ministry spokesman Hossam Zeki.

“We have reproaches” to make to Yemen, he said. “It seems the authorities there did not make sufficient efforts to prevent this consulate break-in.” Protests have been held across the globe against the four-day-old Israeli air blitz on the Palestinians in Gaza, which has killed at least 363 Palestinians and wounded 1,720.

In the absence of Israeli embassies in most Arab capitals, Egyptian diplomatic missions have been a particular focus of the demonstrations since Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak met Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni for talks just two days before the onslaught began.

The Egyptian embassy in Beirut was attacked by stone-throwing demonstrators who had to be dispersed with tear gas shelling by the police.—AFP