Police threw tear gas canisters at scores of Egyptian and Syrian activists demonstrating before the Syrian Embassy in the Garden City area of Cairo on Wednesday evening, demanding death to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the severing of diplomatic ties between Egypt and the Syrian regime.

Police forces shot cartridge bullets in the air to disperse the demonstrators, who in turn threw stones back at them and blocked the Corniche road.

The clashes began when the demonstrators attempted to raise the flag of the Syrian revolution atop the embassy.

On Wednesday, an alleged suicide bomber killed three of Assad’s top military officials, including the defense minister, the most significant blow to Assad’s government since the outbreak of the country’s 16-month-old rebellion.

Syrian activists in Cairo called for celebrating the deaths, and young Egyptian activists joined in solidarity. The crowd held a march to the Syrian Embassy, which then turned into a demonstration demanding Assad’s assassination.

In February, Egypt recalled its ambassador to Syria in protest against Assad’s crackdown on dissident protestors, a move that spurred Syria to recall its ambassador from Cairo shortly thereafter.

That same month Syrian activists stormed an office in the embassy, ransacking it and setting fire to its ground floor.