Egyptians Protest Death of 74 Soccer Fans in Port Said

February 4, 2012

Death toll of clashes in Egypt reaches 12

CAIRO, Feb. 4, 2012 (Xinhua) --

The Egyptian Health Ministry announced Saturday that five more people were killed in the clashes between security forces and protesters near the Interior Ministry building in the capital Cairo, driving the death toll to 12 across the country.

The five people died in Saturday's clashes near the Interior Ministry Building, four of whom were admitted to Qasr el-Aini Hospital and one to Ahmed Maher Teaching Hospital, Health Ministry Undersecretary Hesham Sheeha was quoted by Egyptian official MENA news agency as saying.

Two protesters were killed Friday in front of the Interior Ministry building.

In northeastern region of Suez, three more people were dead on Saturday, driving the death toll in that region to five, said Sheeha.

The protest, triggered by a recent football riot in Port Said, has been going on for three days. On Wednesday, 74 people were killed and more than 1,000 injured in a riot between fans of two rival teams at the end of a match in the Port Said Stadium.

Editor: Mu Xuequan

4 dead in fresh clashes in Egypt, over 1,000 injured

CAIRO, Feb. 3, 2012 (Xinhua) --

Four people were killed and another 1, 531 injured in bloody clashes between Egyptian security forces and protesters over a recent football riot, the country's health ministry said Friday.

The ministry said that two were killed in a shooting that occurred from Thursday evening until early Friday in Suez in northeastern Egypt.

Meanwhile, a 24-year-old soldier and a citizen were killed in clashes between security forces and demonstrators in front of the Interior Ministry building in central Cairo on Friday, according to the official MENA news agency. The soldier was squeezed between a central security vehicle and another car, and died later in hospital.

The protestors in downtown Cairo tried to break into the ministry building, chanting slogans against the police officers who allowed the fans to enter Port Said stadium with knives and heavy sticks.

The protestors called on people to participate in the demonstration, asked the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) to hand over its power to a civil authority, and also urged the government led by Prime Minister Kamal el-Ganzouri to resign.

On Wednesday, 74 people were killed and more than 1,000 injured in a riot between fans of two rival teams at the end of a match in the Port Said Stadium.

For its part, a security official asserted 211 officers were injured in the clashes around the Interior Ministry; some injuries were caused by rubber bullets.

Ganzouri said that the protestors' attempts to break into the Interior Ministry building is an unjustified act. He added that security forces had adhered to self-restraint and used tear gas to disperse protestors, Ganzouri added.

Ganzouri called on the nation's intellectuals, writers and the youth to contain the escalated situation between security forces and protestors in the area of the Interior Ministry and to protect public establishments and state's institutions.

But Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Badie held the SCAF and the Interior Ministry responsible for riots, asking for severe punishment for those involved in the bloody incidents which Egypt has suffered in the last stage of the transitional phase, according to MENA news agency.

Badie called on all national and political parties to participate in a conference "towards better future for Egypt" to discuss the future and methods to tackle the current crisis.

He said that the post-match riots showed that insecurity in Egypt had reached the unbearable climax, reflecting police negligence. Therefore, the Interior Ministry should be restructured and purified.

"We are afraid that the negligence of the police officers might exceed the recent event, to a degree that some of them are punishing the Egyptians for their efforts in the uprising last year, and their demands to regain rights and freedoms," Badie added.

"Bids to break into the Interior Ministry building have no relation to protests or peaceful sit-ins, or the peaceful right adopted by law and constitution," said Sameh Sief al-Yazal, strategic expert and head of the al-Gomhoria center for strategic studies.

He expressed worries over the continuity of violence due to incitement of some political powers to topple the armed council, and he said that, in the coming period, much surprising details will be revealed after the fact finding committees announce its reports.

Meanwhile, the SCAF also blamed in a statement some internal and external parties for the clashes and chaos in Egypt.

"Egypt was passing through a very sensitive serious stage in its history," said the statement, which urged all Egyptians to unify and cooperate with authorities for peace and stability in the country.

The statement also urged national and political movements to respond immediately to positive initiatives and bear their historical roles to regain stability, noting that peaceful protest is the right for all citizens to express their legitimate demands.

In a continuous investigation over the Port Said incident, Egyptian Prosecutor General Abdel Maguid Mahmoud banned Port Said Governor Mohamed Abdel Hashem and Provincial Security Chief Essam Samak -- both fired over the recent football riot, from traveling abroad.

Mahmoud and his two aides on Thursday inspected the Port Said Stadium, the scene of the post-match clashes, and ordered TV satellite channels and individuals who shot the match to hand over their video tapes. Meanwhile, the prosecution ordered to prison 52 over the game incidents for 15 days.

Street battles rage on outside Cairo ministry

By News Wires (text)

France 24, 03/02/2012

AFP -

Police fired tear gas and birdshot at protesters on Saturday in a third day of deadly clashes in Cairo, as anger at Egypt's ruling military boiled over after 74 people died in football-related violence.

The police responded after dozens of protesters threw stones at officers guarding the interior ministry hundreds of metres (yards) from the capital's iconic Tahrir Square.

Some protesters later intervened and stood between their comrades and police, ending the violence.

In the canal city of Suez, two people died from birdshot wounds sustained in clashes overnight, medics said. Hospital officials said nine people have been killed in Cairo and Suez since the violence erupted.

Five people were also wounded in overnight clashes outside police headquarters in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, state media reported.

Marchers had taken to the streets nationwide on Friday to demand that Egypt's ruling generals cede power immediately after a night of violence in several cities.

"Hundreds of protesters battling it out" By Kathryn STAPLEY in Cairo

The official MENA news agency on Saturday cited the health ministry as saying 2,532 people have been injured.

A reporter for the state-owned Nile News television station was wounded in the eye by birdshot, the channel reported.

The interior ministry said 211 policemen were wounded, including a general who lost an eye, and said 16 conscripts were wounded by birdshot.

Protesters, many of them organised supporters of Cairo's main football clubs known as the Ultras, held up a huge banner to the police that read: "Those who didn't deserve to die have died at the hands of those who don't deserve to live."

Many of the dead in Wednesday's football riot in the northern city of Port Said were thought to have been Al-Ahly supporters, set upon by partisans of the local Al-Masry side after the Cairo team lost 3-1.

The Ultras played a prominent role among anti-regime elements in the uprising that overthrew president Hosni Mubarak a year ago, and commentators and citizens have suggested pro-Mubarak forces were behind the massacre, or at least complicit.

In the ongoing aftermath, rocks and stones flew in all directions on Friday as police vans in Cairo repeatedly charged demonstrators.

At one point, police clubbed protesters just metres away from the interior ministry. Across the street, a building housing the Tax Authority burned, state television reported.

A soldier injured outside the interior ministry on Thursday died in hospital on Friday, MENA said.

In a sign of increased insecurity, gunmen carrying automatic weapons stormed a police station in east Cairo, freeing detainees before torching it.

And in the Dokki neighbourhood, a group of men attacked a police station, taking weapons from the building.

The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) blamed the unrest on "foreign and domestic hands targeting the country."

In a statement on Facebook, it urged "all political and national forces of this great nation to take a national and historic role and intervene... to return stability."

Wednesday's clashes between Al-Masry and Al-Ahly fans marked one of the deadliest incidents in football history, and came amid claims by witnesses the security forces did little to prevent the it.

After the final whistle, victorious Al-Masry fans invaded the pitch, throwing rocks, bottles and fireworks at Al-Ahly supporters, causing panic as players and fans fled in all directions, witnesses said.

State television reported on Saturday that the Egyptian Football Association's board of directors tendered their resignations.

On Friday, the prosecutor general slapped a travel ban on Samir Zaher, head of the association -- a day after he was sacked -- and on ex-Port Said governor Mohammed Abdullah, who quit after the clashes.

Egyptians have become increasingly angry with the military junta, which they accuse of failing to manage the country and of human rights abuses.

For months, they have taken to the streets to demand the ouster of the SCAF and its chief, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, who was Mubarak's defence minister for two decades.

The SCAF has pledged to cede full powers to civilian rule when a president is elected by the end of June, but its opponents believe it intends to hold on to power behind the scenes after a transfer to civilian rule.

In the Sinai, the brief abduction on Friday of two US tourists and their guide by masked gunmen dealt a new blow to Egypt's already hard-hit tourism sector, despite their release unharmed several hours later.

The kidnappers intercepted their tour bus on its way from the historic St Catherine's monastery to the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, security officials told AFP.

EGYPT Football stadium violence sparks protests in Cairo

EGYPT Anger mounts after deadly stadium violence

EGYPT Scores dead in violence after Egyptian football match

Street battles rage on outside Cairo ministry

Protesters clashed with police outside Egypt's Interior Ministry for a third day on Saturday amid simmering anger over the deaths of 74 people at a football match earlier this week. Health officials say nine people have died in the recent unrest.

"Hundreds of protesters battling it out"

By Kathryn STAPLEY in Cairo

74 killed in Egyptian football match riot: TV

CAIRO, Feb. 1, 2012 (Xinhua) --

The death toll of a football match riot in Egypt's Port Said rose to 74 with hundreds of others injured, state media reported on Wednesday night.

Fans rushed to the stadium field where el-Masry, a Port Said team, beat the most popular national team el-Ahly three to one in an Egyptian premier league.

Due to insufficient security, most of the fans entered the stadium with sticks in their hands and supporters of the two rival teams started fighting each other.

Two Ahly players are reportedly slightly injured in the clash.

The riot was caused by some insulting posters carried by the Ahly fans, Nile TV reported. One of the posters read "Port Said is like rubbish and it has no men."

Chief of Egypt's ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, Hussein Tantawi, ordered two military helicopters to transfer the players, fans and the injured to the capital Cairo.

Egyptian Prosecutor General Abdel Maguid Mahmoud ordered an investigation into the riot. The parliament will hold an emergency session Thursday over the incident.

A match between Zamalik and Ismaily, held in Cairo International Stadium, was cancelled after the first half finished on Wednesday evening.

When the technical mangers of the two teams heard about what happened in Port Said, they decided to cancel the match for the safety of their players.

A big fire erupted in the Cairo stadium when the fans started to set ablaze the flags and posters in a protest against the cancellation.

Some people stood in the middle of the stadium in solidarity with the dead in Port Said.

The riot in Port Said expanded to the streets outside the stadium, forcing the nearby shops to close down.

"This is deeply saddening. It is the biggest disaster in Egypt' s soccer history," Deputy Health Minister Hesham Sheiha told the state television.

Moemn Zakaria, a Masry player expressed his sorrow, saying " what happened ruined our happiness, we played a good match and the fans enjoyed the fair competition."

"Where are the values and the principles the Egyptian people?" questioned the player. "If this is the case with the matches, it's better to stay away from football."

Port Said Governor Ahmed Abdullah said that maximum state of alert was declared in all civil and military hospitals, according to the official MENA news agency.

"There should be an urgent investigation and severe punishments for those proved to be involved in the clashes," said Al Azhar Mufti Aly Goma.

In his statement, Goma urged the Egyptians to avoid violence or incitement.

President of the Egyptian Football Association (EFA) Samir Zahar announced the postponement of the Egyptian premier league until further notice.

He said the EFA will hold a meeting with the Sport National Council to form a fact finding committee on the incident.

Other teams, el-Gona and Etihad Saqandary decided to boycott the Egyptian football in a protest against the bloody clashes.

We decided to suspend our participation till the riots that overwhelmed our fields disappear, the head of Saqandary board of directors told MENA.

Essam Eryan, a member of Muslim brotherhood and head of the parliamentary foreign relations committee, accused Mubarak remnants of stirring such an incident.

Fair Use Notice

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.