Alaa al-Aswany (Photo: Reuters)
Supporters of deposed Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi disrupted a conference in Paris centering on best-selling Egyptian novelist Alaa al-Aswany, forcing him to flee the hall.
The head of the Arab World Institute in Paris says it's filing a legal complaint for damages after the incident. Jack Lang said Friday that a window was broken but no one was injured in the melee on Wednesday at the gleaming Left Bank building. The complaint targets no specified defendant.
Lang said "apparently pro-Morsi militants" had "infiltrated" the conference. Video posted online shows protesters hurling objects at Al-Aswany, and fleeing the building out of a backdoor.
Al-Aswany, author of "The Yacoubian Building," initially gave cautious backing to Morsi after his election victory. The novelist later supported the Egyptian military's decision to remove him.
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