Details are emerging of a clash between Egypt's United Nations ambassador, Maged Abdelaziz, and agents of the U.S. Secret Service and the New York Police Department during last week's U.N. General Assembly gathering.
"It really looks bad. The Egyptians really were out of line," so explained a New York City official in Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s administration.
The "scuffle" has now risen to the status of a diplomatic incident, with a formal protest sent to the State Department by the Egyptian ambassador.
"We cannot give you the details. But we have complained in writing to the U.S./U.N. mission," said a spokesman for Egypt's U.N. mission, Ismail Khairat. He added, “The Secret Service is liars and we have witnesses," but he refused to elaborate.
From U.S. and New York City sources, NewsMax has been able to reconstruct the incident.
On Wednesday, Sept 26., Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was addressing an audience at The Church Center located across from U.N. headquarters at the corner of 1st Ave. and 44th St.
Egypt's U.N. mission is located just up the block at 304 E. 44th St.
Ambassador Abdelaziz was running late for a meeting at the mission. The diplomat had been at the U.N. for the annual General Assembly debate.
As Abdelaziz left the U.N., he discovered that the Secret Service and NYPD had "frozen" the immediate area near the church to protect the Iranian president.
As the diplomat prepared to cross 44th St., he entered the no-go zone and was intercepted by an NYPD officer.
Though he identified himself as "an ambassador running late for a meeting," he was told by the NYPD officer that he needed to cross 1st Ave. at another location one block away.
The Egyptian then walked half a block, removed a metal street barricade and proceeded to make a dash across the street.
He was again intercepted, this time by a member of the Secret Service — who was later joined by a commanding NYPD official.
The ambassador was turned away for a second time, but according to NYC officials he "got agitated, shouted insults" and took the metal barricade and "threw" it across the sidewalk.
"He confronted our officers and we could have handcuffed and detained him, but opted not to do so," officials explained.
Eventually, the diplomat backed off and crossed over at the designated location.
A while later, the Egyptian again encountered the same Secret Service agent who had prevented his second attempt to cross the street and is said to have shouted, "I am going to file an official protest . . . I will have your job!" He then reportedly turned and spat at the Secret Service officer.
The officer is reported to have replied that he also intended to file a written report with his superiors in Washington.
State Dept. officials tell NewsMax that their own preliminary investigation shows that both the Secret Service and NYPD officers "acted totally professional."
They also expressed some "irritation" that the incident has risen to an official protest by the Egyptian government.
Several Egyptian reporters at the United Nations were not surprised, saying the Egyptian diplomats can often “act arrogant.”
Secret Service headquarters in Washington refused to comment on the incident and subsequent complaint.
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