At least 30 people have been killed
and 250 injured in Port Said during riots sparked by a court's sentencing of 21
people to death on charges related to violent clashes between rival football
fans last year.
The Egyptian army has deployed
armoured personnel carriers in the coastal city after furious relatives and
fans of the local Al Masry football team attacked a police station and a prison
in an attempt to free some of those condemned.
The death sentences, which were
announced live on television, relate to clashes in Port Said on 1 February 2012
after Cairo's Al Ahly
beat the local team. Al Masry supporters attacked Al Ahly fans,
causing a stampede for the exits. The police did not intervene in
the violence except to switch off the stadium lights, and in the confusion the
Cairo fans were crushed as crowds pushed against a locked gate which gave way
under the pressure. Seventy-four people were killed.
Fans in Cairo cheered (video) as
Judge Sobhi Abdel-Maguid announced the verdict while those in Port Said
protested, blocking streets and attacking police, who fired teargas, rubber
bullets and live ammunition into the crowds.
The death sentences must be
confirmed by the grand mufti, Egypt's
senior religious authority, and can also be appealed. A further 52 defendants
are to be sentenced in March, including nine security officials.
Many football fans have taken a
leading role in wider political protests over the past two years, often forming
the vanguard of violent resistance against the police and army. Supporters of
both Al Ahly and Al Masry believe former members of Hosni Mubarak's regime
helped instigate the Port Said violence, and that the police were responsible
for gross negligence at the very least. Some Al Masry fans claim security
officials instigated or at least did nothing to stop the attack, because of
long-running antipathy between the club's hardcore fans – known as Ultras – and
the police.
In recent days Al Ahly fans had
warned of bloodshed and retribution, and hundreds gathered outside the Cairo
football club in anticipation of the verdict, chanting against the police and
the government.
"What happened a year ago was
very sad," said another fan, Bas, who would not give his surname.
"Today is a turning point, a new dawn for everyone."
But some Al Ahly fans were still
furious at the failure to convict any senior security officials. "We are
angry, but hope more will be convicted in the future," said one who did
not give his name.
The lawyer of one of the defendants
sentenced to death said the verdict was nothing more than "a political
decision to calm the public".
"There is nothing to say these
people did anything and we don't understand what this verdict is based
on," said Mohammed al-Daw, a Port Said resident.
The verdict comes after a day of
deadly clashes between security forces and protesters opposed to Egypt's
Islamist president, Mohammed Morsi. The clashes continued into Saturday morning
in several Egyptian cities as thousands of demonstrators protested against
Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood and police brutality on the second anniversary of
the start of the revolution that forced Mubarak from power.
The military was also deployed
overnight in the city of Suez after eight people died in clashes between
security forces and protesters opposed to Morsi.
At least 379 people were injured
across the country on Friday as riots broke out in Cairo's Tahrir Square and
cities including Alexandria, Mahalla, and Ismailia. Police fired teargas across
much of central Cairo and protesters pelted them with stones, bringing parts of
the city's road and metro networks to a standstill.
Morsi cancelled a trip to Ethiopia
on Saturday to focus on dealing with the violence.
The worst soccer disaster on record
occurred on May 24, 1964, in Lima, Peru, when 318 fans were killed and
more than 500 injured during riot and panic following an unpopular
ruling by a referee in a Peru vs. Argentina match. As many as 340 were
reported killed at a 1982 European Cup match between Soviet club Spartak Moscow
and Haarlem of the Netherlands, but that toll was disputed by Moscow officials,
who said only 61 died, according to The Assocated Press.
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