Egypt Court Sentences 21 To Death in Football Riot / With More Riots On The Street
 

Clashes Erupt After Egypt Court Sentences 21 to Death in Football Riot


Updated 7:08 AM EST, Sat January 26, 2013

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Egyptian protesters take part in a demonstration near the prison in city of Port Said on January 25.



An Egyptian judge sentenced 21 people to death Saturday for their roles in a football game riot last year, a ruling that sparked deadly clashes between security forces and relatives of the convicted.
The Port Said football incident left 74 people dead and 1,000 others injured.

Soon after the sentencing in the nation's worst stadium disaster, protests erupted outside the prison in the northeastern port city. Clashes outside Port Said prison left at least 16 people dead and dozens injured, a hospital official told state TV.

The armed forces sent troops to secure public buildings and restore calm in Port Said, according to state media.

The fatal clashes started after some relatives attempted to storm the building to free their loved ones, Brig. Gen. Osama Ismail, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry, told state-run Nile TV.

Crowds outside the prison fired guns and hurled rocks at the security forces, who in turn used tear gas to disperse the crowd, Ismail said.

"There is a state of anger on the streets of Port Said, and the security forces are on high alert," Nile TV reported.

The sentences were handed down in a packed courtroom in Cairo as victims' relatives and those convicted wept.

"I thank God that justice is back in the courts of Egypt. Many mothers will sleep sound tonight knowing justice is served," the mother of Mustafa Issam, who was killed in the riots, told Nile TV by phone.

The sentences must be reviewed by Egypt's highest religious authority, who will return his opinion to the court March 9. On that day, an additional 54 defendants in the case will also be sentenced, the judge said.

Dubbed the "massacre at Port Said" by Egyptian media, the riot broke out on February 1, 2012, after Port Said-based Al-Masry defeated Cairo's Al-Ahly, 3-1.

When the clashes began, about 22,000 people were inside the stadium, which can hold up to 25,000 people. About 2,000 Al-Ahly fans were at the game, authorities said.

Fans from both sides bashed each other with rocks and chairs. Many of those who died fell from the bleachers during the melee inside the stadium, while others suffocated.

It was unclear whether intense sports rivalries or political strife sparked the riots, though witnesses said tension was building through the game with Port Said fans throwing bottles and rocks at players on the Cairo team.

During Egypt's revolution that ended with the toppling of Hosni Mubarak, football fans became a powerful force for political change, according to CNN contributor James Montague, who wrote the book "When Friday Comes: Football in the War Zone."

Even so, the riots occurred at a time when Egypt was struggling with a security vacuum following Mubarak's ouster.

In the hours after the riot in Port Said, protesters in Cairo chanted, "Down with military rule." At the time, the secretary-general of the Muslim Brotherhood party blamed Egypt's military for the deaths.

Egypt's interior ministry blamed fans for provoking police. Witnesses said police did little to try to quell the clashes.

re: Egypt Court Sentences 21 To Death in Football Riot / With More Riots On The Street
 

More Clashes in Cairo as Death Toll in Egyptian Football Riot Rises to 31

Updated 5:15 AM EST, Sun January 27, 2013

Cairo (CNN) -- Egypt's security forces regained control Sunday of a vital northeastern port city after a riot broke out following news that 21 people had been sentenced to death for their roles in last year's deadly clashes at a soccer match at the Port Said stadium.

The riot in Port Said follows other violence, which was tied more to unrest over Egypt's current leadership. They are nonetheless symptomatic of instability and insecurity two years after longtime President Hosni Mubarak was ousted.

By early Sunday morning, the death toll in Port Said climbed to 31, according to Dr. Ahmed Omar, a health ministry spokesman, who spoke to state-run EGYNews.

At least 322 were injured, including 61 who remained hospitalized, he said.

Security forces closed roads in and out of Port Said, which sits along the Mediterranean Sea at the northern entrance of the Suez Canal.
Army units, meanwhile, took control of the main Suez Canal administration building, provincial government buildings, banks and courts in Port Said, Gen. Ahmed Mohammed Ali, a spokesman for the Armed Forces, said. The troops also secured the power and water facilities in the city, he said.
The buildings were either looted and burned or taken by rioters, according to state media reports.

The armed forces also appealed to Egyptians to protect public and state property, Ali said.

The violence began Saturday outside a prison after relatives of those convictedclashed with police and prison guards, the head of Port Said hospitals told state-run Nile TV.

Some of the defendants' relatives tried to storm the Port Said prison to free their loved ones being held inside, interior ministry spokesman Brig. Gen. Osama Ismail told Nile TV.

They were angry because 21 of their relatives had just been sentenced to death for their role in a February 1, 2012, riot that occurred at the close of a match between Cairo's prestigious Al-Ahly football club and the host Al-Masry team.

When the riot was over at the stadium, 73 people were dead and more than 1,000 wounded.

Egypt's general prosecutor charged 75 people with premeditated murder and attempted murder, while three Al-Masry officials and nine police officers were charged with "assisting the murderers."

According to the prosecutor's office, those charged with assisting knew about the assault ahead of time, didn't confiscate weapons in advance, didn't stop them and -- in the case of an electricity engineer who was charged -- turned off the lights directly over the bleachers where the Al-Ahly fans were sitting right after the visiting team wrapped up its 3-1 victory.

Fans from both sides bashed each other with rocks and chairs, yet prosecutors claimed the Port Said supporters were also armed with knives and other weapons.

Many died after falling from bleachers inside the stadium, while others suffocated.

As security forces tried to regain control of the streets in Port Said, clashes between anti-government protesters and security forces in Cairo entered its third day.

Police and soldiers used tear gas to quell a sometimes violent demonstration near Cairo's Tahrir Square -- the symbolic center of Egypt's revolution. Demonstrators threw rocks and burned tires and boxes, according to state-run Ahram newspaper.

Police closed all the main roads and highways near Tahrir Square, and vehicles were not allowed to stop or wait near the square, state-run al-Ahram newspaper reported.

Citing the unrest in the vicinity of Tahrir Square, the U.S. Embassy closed its offices on Sunday, according to its website. The British Embassy in Cairo also closed for the day.

The protests in Cairo, Alexandria, Suez and elsewhere in recent days have focused their anger at current President Mohamed Morsy.

The former Muslim Brotherhood leader, who became Egypt's first democratically elected leader last year, has come under fire by some who compared him to Mubarak and said he amassed power for himself and his Islamist allies. He has insisted his moves were necessary to move Egypt forward in the face of pressing issues and persistent obstacles.

On Friday -- the anniversary of what some call the January 25 Revolution -- six people were killed in Suez and one in Ismailia, amid clashes involving anti-government protesters and those supportive of Morsy, as well as police. Hundreds more were injured in the unrest nationwide.