Egypt's Alexandria airport reopens after strike

An Egyptian airport in the coastal governorate of Alexandria was reopened after being closed for several hours due to a strike of security officers, official news agency MENA reported Sunday. A number of noncommissioned police officers and security men staged a protest in front of the main airstrip of Alexandria's Borg Al-Arab Airport from early morning until 4:00 p.m. (1400 GMT), calling for higher wages and other demands related to airport management. Earlier, official reports said the Civil Aviation Ministry condemned the strike as "an irresponsible behavior." The strike forced the airport to suspend air traffic and divert all coming flights to Cairo International Airport. Several protesting security personnel smashed the front doors and some offices of the airport cut the internet cables, state-run Al-Ahram news website quoted an airport official as saying, noting the damages cost around 2.27 million U.S. dollars excluding the losses of flight suspensions.