A colony of rats that gained national notoriety in Egypt in the Nineteen Eighties has sprung to prominence again, by attacking workmen trying to demolish the ruin of a luxury hotel that had made them famous.

A decade ago, the government refused to sell the run-down San Stefano hotel in the port city of Alexandria, even though the rats had already moved in.

Ministers called it an important piece of Egyptian history, but later let it fall into ruin.

The Egyptian satirist Ahmed Ragab used the rats as symbols of what he considered to be government ineptitude.

Now the rats have halted demolition work, and the city health department has been called in.