CAIRO - At least 74 people were killed and hundreds injured when soccer fans rushed the field in the seaside city of Port Said yesterday following an upset victory by the home team over Egypt’s top club, setting off clashes and a stampede as riot police largely failed to intervene.
It was a bloody reminder of the deteriorating security in the Arab world’s most populous country as instability continues nearly a year after former President Hosni Mubarak was swept out of power in an uprising.
The melee - which followed an Egyptian league match between Al-Masry, the home team in the Mediterranean city, and Al-Ahly, based in Cairo and one of Egypt’s most popular teams - was the worst case of soccer violence in Egypt and the deadliest worldwide since 1996. One player said it was “like a war.’’
In Cairo, fans angered that another match between Al-Ismaili and Zamalek was halted because of the Port Said violence set fire to the bleachers at the main stadium in the Egyptian capital, authorities said. No injuries were reported, and employees said firefighters extinguished the blaze before it caused much damage.
The clashes and ensuing stampede did not appear to be directly linked to the political turmoil in Egypt, but the violence raised fresh concerns about the ability of the state police to manage crowds. Most of the hundreds of black-uniformed police with helmets and shields stood in lines and did nothing as soccer fans chased each other, some wielding sharp objects and others hurling sticks and rocks.
Security officials said the ministry has issued directives for its personnel not to “engage’’ with civilians after recent clashes between police and protesters in November left more than 40 people dead.
The violence also underscored the role of soccer fans in Egypt’s recent protest movement. Organized fans, in groups known as ultras, have played an important role in the revolution and rallies against military rule. Their anti-police songs, peppered with curses, have quickly become viral and an expression of the hatred many Egyptians feel toward security forces that were accused of much of the abuse that was widespread under Mubarak’s regime.
In April, the ineffectiveness of the police force also was on display when thousands of fans ran onto the field before the end of an African Champions League game between local club Zamalek and Tunisia’s Club African. The hundreds of police at Cairo International Stadium could not stop the violence then either.
Activists quickly scheduled rallies today outside the headquarters of the Interior Ministry in Cairo to protest the inability of the police to stop the bloodshed. Many gathered outside Al-Ahly club in Cairo, chanting slogans against military rule, and hundreds filed into Cairo’s main train station to receive the injured arriving from Port Said.
In Port Said, residents marched early yesterday, denouncing the violence and saying it was a conspiracy by the military and police to cause chaos.
Army tanks and armored vehicles joined police patrolling near hospitals and morgues. Police were not to be seen in the streets after the violence and were unavailable to break up fights that followed.
The tension also spread to nearby Suez Province. About 500 protesters, including soccer fans and activists, gathered outside the main police headquarters to protest what they called police negligence.
A security official said the police fired tear gas to disperse the crowd. He was speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak to reporters.
The scuffles broke out after fans of Al-Masry stormed the field following a rare 3-1 win against Al-Ahly. Al-Masry supporters hurled sticks and stones as they chased players and fans from the rival team, who ran toward the exits to escape, according to witnesses. One man told state TV he heard gunshots in the stadium, while a lawmaker from Egypt’s powerful Muslim Brotherhood said the police did not prevent fans carrying knives from entering the stadium.
TV footage showed Al-Ahly players rushing for their locker room as fistfights broke out among the hundreds of fans swarming onto the field. Some men had to rescue a manager from the losing team as he was being beaten. Black-clothed police officers stood by, appearing overwhelmed....
State TV appealed to Egyptians to donate blood for the injured in Port Said, and the military sent two aircraft to evacuate serious cases to the capital, Cairo.
Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, the head of the military leadership that assumed power after Mubarak’s ouster, welcomed Al-Ahly team players who were flown back to Cairo from Port Said on a military aircraft.
“This will not bring Egypt down,’’ he said.
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Related: Egyptian protesters blame police for soccer deaths
"6 die as protests over Egypt’s handling of soccer riot spread; 2 US tourists are abducted, then quickly released" by Aya Batrawy and Maggie Michael | Associated Press, February 04, 2012
CAIRO - Protesters filled the streets and clashed for a second day yesterday with police who fired tear gas and birdshot as a deadly soccer riot focused rising public anger over lawlessness and collapsing security a year after Egypt’s uprising.
Also yesterday, Bedouin tribesmen abducted two female American tourists and their Egyptian guide at gunpoint but released them several hours later after negotiations with tribal leaders in the Sinai Peninsula, the region’s security chief said.
The daytime abduction along a busy highway was a new blow to Egypt’s vital tourism industry, which has been heavily battered by the unrest following last year’s uprising that ousted President Hosni Mubarak....
Egyptians streamed out of Friday prayers in Cairo, Alexandria, Suez, and several Nile Delta cities, criticizing police and calling on the military rulers led by Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi to step down....
The police force, which for decades was associated with torture and corruption in the Mubarak regime, is now being criticized for allowing the soccer stadium deaths - whether from a lack of control or, as some alleged, on purpose.
For many Egyptians, the security vacuum is not just a sign of incompetence but part of the larger overall failure by the military council to steer the country through its turbulent transitional period. They also see selectivity in policing the streets.
Leading democracy advocate Mohamed ElBaradei said delays in reforming the security apparatus is itself “a crime against the nation,’’ adding that the violence is the “price we pay for stumbling in the transitional period.’’
The clashes in Cairo began Thursday as the bodies of the dead soccer fans were returned to the capital for burial and the violence escalated. Protesters converged on and threw stones at the headquarters of the Interior Ministry, which oversees police.
Police responded with tear gas and birdshot, and protesters donned helmets and gas masks to battle their way through streets thick with smoke from tear gas and burning tires.
“I came because I’m trying to do anything to feel that I took part in getting people’s rights and voicing all that’s inside me,’’ said 20-year-old Ahmed Emad, whose two friends were killed in Port Said. “If I sit at home, I will explode after all I’ve seen.’’
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Some lawmakers suggested that the military allowed the attack to happen to show the need for a reinstatement of the recently abolished emergency laws, in which the police enjoyed nearly unlimited power.
For their part, police are resentful of the abuse they suffered during the uprising and they also fear being criticized or even prosecuted if they use excessive force, something that was tolerated and encouraged under Mubarak.
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"Death toll in Egypt rises to 12; Clashes continue following deadly soccer violence" by Hadeel Al-Shalchi | Associated Press, February 05, 2012
CAIRO - Egyptian security forces fired tear gas from armored trucks at protesters demanding an end to military rule yesterday....
After two days of running street battles, clashes broke out again in downtown Cairo yesterday as protesters marched on the Interior Ministry. Security forces fired volleys of tear gas at rock-throwing protesters calling for the army to relinquish power and for the execution of Egypt’s military ruler.
Rights groups and several newly elected members of Parliament have called on the country’s military leader, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, who served as President Hosni Mubarak’s defense minister for 20 years and took power after Mubarak’s ouster last February, to immediately transfer power to a civilian administration.
Some are also calling on presidential elections to be held in April rather than June.
Some protesters yesterday urged an end to the violence and called on people to leave the Interior Ministry area.
“If you love Egypt, return to [Tahrir] square,’’ chanted protesters along the side streets of the ministry yesterday.
Police cordoned off several streets with lines of riot police and barbed wire, pushing protesters further back from the ministry.
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