DEMONSTRATORS gathered for a second day near the Algerian Embassy in Cairo yes-terday to protest against vio-lence against Egyptians during a play-off for the World Cup soccer finals.The Interior Ministry warned Egyptians against further protests after 11 policeoffi-cers and 24 demonstrators were injured in riots near the embassy at dawn yesterday."The police will be forced to take steps they see necessary in the case of any other contraventions of the law," the Ministry said in a statement.About 150 demonstrators gathered in the Zamalek neighbourhood, where many embassies are located. Police trucks and hundreds of officers in riot gear formed a cordon along the streets to block their way to the Algerian Embassy, a Reuters witness said."One, two, where's the ambassador gone to?" they chanted in Arabic. Passing cars hooted and some waved Egyptian flags in support of the demon-strators. Stones and broken glass from the previous night's violence littered the street.Reuters witnesses said about 2,000 demonstrators gathered during the night and many began throwing bottles and stones after a police charge to break up the crowd. Two police vehicles were over-turned.The windows of four shops, a petrol sta-tion and 12 glass billboards were shattered and 15 private and police vehicles were damaged during the dawn riots, the Interior Ministry said.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 demon-strators chanted anti-Algerian slogans and sang their national anthem, burning Algerian flags."We should treat Algeria like any coun-try that has declared war on us," said Amr Higazi, a university student holding a placard calling for the expulsion of the Algerian Ambassador, Abdel-kader Hadjar.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 envoy.Egyptian fans said that stones were thrown at their bus as they made their way back to Khartoum airport after the 1-0 match, which followed a 2-0 victory for the Pharaohs in Cairo on Saturday that led to the play-off. Egypt's Health Minister Hatem al-Gabali said that 21 Egyptians were lightly wounded in the attacks.Sudan summoned Egypt's envoy in Khartoum to protest Egyptian media reports of security lapses in Khartoum that allowedAlgerians 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 Hadjar, who was called to the Foreign Ministry last week after Algerian fans attacked Egyptian busi-nesses and homes in Algiers.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 ran-sacking the Algiers offices of Egypt Air.The attacks prompted Orascom to pull out 25 Egyptian employees and their families. Arab League chief Amr Moussa yes-terday called for calm in the row between Algeria and Egypt.
