The UK has temporarily closed its embassy in Cairo after Egyptian authorities removed security barriers outside the building, amid a diplomatic row over the arrest of an activist.
The UK Foreign Office says its main embassy building in the capital’s Garden City district would remain shut “while the impact of these changes is reviewed”, but added the embassy remained operational.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty reportedly called the UK’s National Security Adviser Jonathan Powell last week to ask for an explanation over the arrest.