Despite the closure, emergency consular assistance will still be available via telephone at +20227916000, the embassy said in a post on its official Facebook page.
Visitors with pre-booked appointments are urged to call the same number in advance for guidance on access, it added.
However, the embassy has not specified a date for the reopening of its main building.
Calls for reciprocity grow
The decision to remove the security barriers followed mounting calls from Egyptian public figures for the removal of the security barriers surrounding the embassy after recent incidents outside the Egyptian embassy in London.
On Wednesday, TV host Ahmed Mousa took to X with a message directed to Egyptian state authorities: “Enough with granting the British embassy in Cairo special privileges by closing the surrounding streets."
"The people and drivers have the right for the area’s streets to return to their former state ... no privileges for anyone; treatment should be reciprocal. All traffic barriers should be removed … traffic flow should be restored to the streets,” he added.
On Tuesday, Tarek Al-Awady, a member of the Presidential Pardon Committee, similarly wrote: “I demand opening the streets surrounding the American and British embassies to vehicles and pedestrians immediately."
"It is neither logical nor acceptable that vital streets in Cairo remain closed for years under the pretext of securing two embassies ... If they do not do that, why do we do it?” Al-Awady expressed.
Moreover, the National Front Party urged authorities to reconsider the privileges extended to British diplomatic missions in Cairo.
“We will not protect those who do not protect us,” the party said in a statement, demanding that the embassy be subjected to the same rules as other foreign missions.
Moreover, Atef Al-Maghawry, a member of the Egyptian House of Representatives, told Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper on Wednesday: “Egypt must apply the principle of reciprocity, starting with the removal of barriers around the British embassy, which disfigure the capital, obstruct traffic, and have turned the lives of local residents into a disaster because of the security measures."
Ambassador Rakha Ahmed Hassan, a member of the Egyptian Council for Foreign Affairs, believes that “the British authorities are negligent in protecting and securing the Egyptian embassy.”
He told Asharq Al-Awsat that “Egypt’s response must be strong... and the principle of reciprocity could serve as an effective diplomatic and political tool.”
On Tuesday, an Egyptian national detained in London during a protest outside Egypt's embassy was released. This occurred just hours after Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty raised the case with the British government, urging UK authorities to clarify the circumstances of the incident and facilitate his prompt release.
Ahmed Abdelkader, head of the so-called Union of Egyptian Youth Abroad, was arrested in London last Monday after a confrontation with members of the Muslim Brotherhood diaspora. Videos shared online showed him resisting detention as Brotherhood supporters hurled insults.
Abdelkader has recently been visible outside Egyptian diplomatic missions in the UK, where he staged protests and posted videos denouncing Brotherhood activists.
He has accused them of trying to chain embassy gates and divert attention from wider causes, including mobilizing support for Gaza.
In recent weeks, Cairo has summoned several European ambassadors to protest security lapses at its embassies, warning that reciprocal measures could be taken against their missions in Egypt.
In a televised interview earlier in August, Minister Abdelatty stressed that Egypt considers the protection of its embassies a non-negotiable matter. He cautioned that any shortcomings by host countries would not be overlooked.
“Any country failing to protect Egyptian embassies will be held to the same standard,” Abdelatty said.
Decades of access restrictions
Security barriers around the British and American embassies in Cairo were first installed in 2003, after the Interior Ministry ordered the closure of surrounding streets during the U.S.-led war on Iraq. A network of concrete and electronic barriers was placed at 12 access points leading to the embassies in Garden City.
In mid-2011, Egypt’s Administrative Court ruled that the Interior Ministry must reopen the streets and remove the barriers, following a lawsuit by local residents and business owners affected by the closures. However, the ruling was not implemented until June 2012 amid heightened political unrest, as the embassies were located near Tahrir Square, then the epicenter of protests and demonstrations.
In January 2013, the British Embassy temporarily suspended services as violent clashes erupted in Cairo during the second anniversary of the revolution.
The barriers were reinstated in December 2014, following a nine-day closure of the British Embassy due to security concerns.
At the time, the embassy announced on 6 December that public services in Cairo were suspended, while the Consulate-General in Alexandria continued normal operations. Services at the Cairo embassy resumed fully on 16 December 2014, with new arrangements made to ease access for neighborhood residents.
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