Tag Archives: Al Masry

Egypt court confirms soccer riot death sentences

March 9, 2013 Bartle Doo Leave a comment

An Egyptian court has confirmed death sentences handed down against 21 people for their role in a deadly 2012 soccer riot that killed more than 70 people in the city of Port Said.

The court on Saturday also sentenced city’s the former security chief, Maj. Gen. Essam Samak, to 15 years in prison.

The 21 death sentences were passed on Jan. 28. Most of those condemned to death are fans of Port Said’s Al-Masry club. The announcement led to protests in the city that some 40 people dead, most of them shot by police.

The Feb. 2012 riot, Egypt‘s worst soccer disaster, followed a league game between Al-Masry and Cairo’s Al-Ahly, with Port Said supporters setting upon the visiting fans after the final whistle.

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Strikes shut down Egyptian port city for 2nd day

February 18, 2013 Bartle Doo Leave a comment

Hundreds of anti-government protesters have blocked central roads and work was halted for a second day in Egypt‘s restive coastal city of Port Said, the site of an unprecedented soccer massacre in 2012.

The protesters are angry over the killing of some 50 people during demonstrations last month against the death sentences for 21 people, mostly fans of the city’s soccer club Al-Masry, for their part in the Feb. 1, 2012, stadium violence that killed 74.

As part of a partial general strike under way in Port Said, local government employees, port customs and small businesses were shut on Monday. The city’s army-guarded university and banks remained open.

Port Said sits on the northern tip of the Suez Canal but the strikes have not disrupted shipping in the international waterway.

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Egyptian protesters, police clash at President's palace in 8th day of political violence

February 1, 2013 Bartle Doo Leave a comment

Egyptian protesters throwing stones clashed with security forces firing tear gas and water cannons at the presidential palace in Cairo on Friday as the country’s political violence extended for an eighth day.

Protests were held in cities around the country on Friday after a call for rallies by opponents of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi. But some cracks appeared in the ranks of the opposition as some sharply criticized its political leaders for holding their first meeting with the rival Muslim Brotherhood a day earlier.

Around 60 people have been killed in protests, rioting and clashes that engulfed the country the past week in country’s worst crisis since the 2011 fall of autocrat Hosni Mubarak.

Around 6,000 protesters massed outside Morsi’s presidential palace in an upscale district of the capital, banging on the gates and throwing stones and shoes into the grounds in a show of contempt. At least one firebomb was thrown through the gates as crowds chanted, “Leave, leave,” addressing Morsi.

Security forces inside the palace responded with water cannons on the crowd, then fired volleys of tear gas. A tree inside the palace grounds caught fire.

Thousands more rallied in central Tahrir Square, while a larger crowd marched through the Suez Canal city of Port Said, which witnessed the worst clashes and highest casualties, pumping their fists in the air and chanting, “Leave, leave, Morsi.”

The wave of protests began around rallies marking the second anniversary of the uprising that toppled Mubarak. The unrest was prompted by public anger that Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood are monopolizing power and have failed to deal with the country’s mounting woes.

But outrage has been further fueled by Morsi’s public backing of what was seen as security forces’ use of excessive force against protesters last weekend, particular in Port Said, where around 40 people were killed.

Amid the escalating tensions the past week, there have been fears of direct clashes between Morsi’s opponents and his Islamist backers. Such battles broke out at the palace in December during an earlier wave of unrest, when Islamists attacked an anti-Morsi sit-in, prompting fighting that left around 10 dead.

A Brotherhood spokesman, Ahmed Arif, underlined on Friday that the group would not call its cadres into the streets. But a young Brotherhood member said the group’s members were ordered to gather in a mosque near the presidential palace, as a “precautionary measure” in case anti-Morsi protests turned violent. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press.

The government, meanwhile, has increasingly blamed violence on a group of protesters called the Black Bloc, who wear black masks and have vowed to “defend the revolution.” Officials and state media depict them as conspiratorial saboteurs, but the opposition says authorities are using the group as a scapegoat to justify a crackdown.

Nearly 20 masked protesters are among hundreds arrested around the country the past week. Egypt‘s official news agency said on Thursday that a member of the Black Bloc was arrested with “Israeli plans” and maps to target vital institutions — recalling past allegations by Mubarak-era security officials that opponents were carrying out Israeli interests.

“There’s a great deal of exaggeration concerning the Black Bloc group,” said Gamal Fahmy, an opposition figure. “It hasn’t been proven that the group has committed violence, these are just calls over the social media.”

“This is an attempt from the Muslim Brotherhood to blackmail the opposition,” by depicting the anti-Morsi movement as violent, he said.

The eruption of violence prompted Morsi last Sunday to declare a state of emergency and curfew in Port Said and two other Suez Canal cities, where angry residents have defied the restrictions with nightly rallies.

Thousands marched on Friday through Port Said, located at the Canal’s Mediterranean end, pumping their fists and chanting, “Leave, leave, Morsi.” They threatened to escalate pressure with civil disobedience and a work stoppage at the vital Suez Canal authority if their demand for punishment of those responsible for protester death is not met.

“The people want the Republic of Port Said,” protesters chanted, voicing a wide sentiment among residents that they are fed up of negligence and mistreatment by central government and that they want to virtual independence.

Buses brought protesters from the two other Suez Canal cities of Suez and Ismailia to join the Port Said rallies.

Friday marked the first anniversary of a mass soccer riot in Port Said that left 74 people dead, mostly fans of Al-Ahly, Egypt‘s most popular soccer team, which was playing a local Port Said team, Al-Masry.

The past weekend’s violence in Port Said was sparked when a court convicted 21 people, mostly locals, in the soccer deaths, a verdict residents saw as unjust and political. Over the next few days, around 40 people were killed in the city in unrest that saw security forces firing on a funeral.

Egypt‘s main opposition political grouping, the National Salvation Front, called for Friday’s protests in Cairo, demanding Morsi form a national unity government and amend the constitution, moves they say would prevent the Islamist from governing solely in the interest of his Muslim Brotherhood group.

“The policies of the president and the Muslim Brotherhood are pushing the country to the brink,” the opposition said in a statement.

However, the call came a day after the Front held a meeting with Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood under the aegis of Egypt‘s premier Islamic institution, Al-Azhar, in their first ever meeting. They and other politicians signed a joint statement denouncing violence.

The meeting appeared to have caused rifts within the opposition, with some saying the Front had handed the Brotherhood the high ground by signing a statement that seemed to focus on protester violence and made no mention of police use of excessive force or explicitly talk of political demands.

“Al-Azhar’s initiative talks too broadly about violence as if it’s the same to kill a person or break a window and makes no difference between defensive violence and aggressive violence, offering a political cover to expand the repression, detention, killing and torture by the hands of police for the authority’s benefit,” read a joint statement by 70 activists, liberal politicians, actors and writers.

“The initiative didn’t represent the core of the problem and didn’t offer solutions but came to give more legitimacy to the existing authority,” it added.

Those who attended the Thursday’s rare meeting between Egypt‘s rival political camps defended the anti-violence initiative.

Egypt‘s leading pro-democracy advocate Mohammed ElBaradei and a Front leader described allegations that the Front is making political compromises them as “intentional attempt to split the ranks.”

“We toppled down Mubarak regime with a peaceful revolution. We insist on achieving the goals the same way whatever the sacrifices and the barbaric suppression tactics,” the Nobel peace Laureate tweeted.

Ahmed Maher, co-founder of April 6 group which led the anti-Mubarak uprising, said in a tweet: “I am against violence as a solution.” An opposition party leader Ahmed Said said in a statement, “no one can say no to an initiative to stop violence.”

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News

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Tens of thousands in Egypt hold funeral, protest Morsi after riots kill 37

January 27, 2013 Bartle Doo Leave a comment

Tens of thousands of mourners poured into the streets of the restive Egyptian city of Port Said on Sunday for a mass funeral for most of the 37 people killed in rioting a day earlier, chanting slogans against Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.

Violence erupted briefly when some in the crowd fired guns and police responded with volleys of tear gas, witnesses said. State television reported 110 were injured.

“We are very worried about what may happen after the burial,” said local youth activist Rasha Hamouda, noting the city was fraught with tension.

The violence in the city, about 140 miles northeast of Cairo, broke out on Saturday after a court on Saturday convicted and sentenced 21 defendants to death for their roles in a mass soccer riot in a Port Said stadium on Feb. 1, 2012 that left 74 people dead. Most of those sentenced to death were local soccer fans from Port Said. The 21 were convicted on murder charges and the court is to rule on the remainder of the 73 defendants in March.

The riots stemmed mostly from animosity between police and die-hard Egyptian soccer fans, known as Ultras, who have become highly politicized. The Ultras frequently confront police and were also part of the uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak‘s regime two years ago.

They were also at the forefront of protests against the military rulers who took over from Mubarak and are now again on the front lines of protests against the Morsi, the country’s first freely elected leader.

A prominent Islamist leader delivered a thinly veiled warning that Islamist groups would set up militia-like vigilante groups to protect public and state property against attacks.

Addressing a news conference, Tareq el-Zomr of the once-jihadist Gamaa Islamiya, said:

“If Security forces don’t achieve security, it will be the right of the Egyptian people and we at the forefront to set up popular committees to protect private and public property and counter the aggression on innocent citizens.”

The threat by el-Zomr was accompanied by his charge that the mostly secular and liberal opposition was responsible for the deadly violence of the past few days, setting the stage for possible bloody clashes between protesters and Islamist militiamen. The opposition denies the charge.

There was also a funeral in Cairo for two policemen killed in the Port Said violence a day earlier. Several policemen grieving for their colleagues heckled Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim, who is in charge of the force, when he arrived for their funeral, according to witnesses. The angry officers screamed at the minister that he was only at the funeral for the TV cameras — a highly unusual show of dissent in Egypt, where the police force maintains military-like discipline.

Ibrahim hurriedly left and the funeral proceeded without him.

In Port Said, mourners chanted “There is no God but Allah,” and “Morsi is God’s enemy” as the funeral procession made its way through the city after prayers for the dead at the city’s Mariam Mosque. Women clad in black led the chants, which were quickly picked up by the rest of the mourners.

There were no police or army troops in sight. But the funeral procession briefly halted after gunfire rang out. Security officials said the gunfire came from several mourners who opened fire at the Police Club next to the cemetery.

A witness said the police responded to the gunfire with volleys of tear gas. The witness and the officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation in the city on the Mediterranean at the northern tip of the Suez Canal.

Survivors and witnesses of the Port Said soccer melee blame Mubarak loyalists for the violence, saying they had a hand in instigating the killings. The troubles erupted after Port Said’s home team Al-Masry beat Cairo’s Al-Ahly 3-1. Some witnesses said “hired thugs” wearing green T-shirts and posing as Al-Masry fans led the attacks.

Other witnesses said at the very least, police were responsible for gross negligence in the soccer violence, which killed 74 people, most of them Al-Ahly fans.

Anger at police was evident in Port Said, home to most of the 73 men accused of involvement in the bloodshed.

The trial was in Cairo and Judge Sobhi Abdel-Maguid did not give his reasoning when he handed down the guilty verdicts and sentences for 21 defendants. Executions in Egypt are usually carried out by hanging.

Verdicts for the remaining 52 defendants, including nine security officials, are to be delivered on March 9. Some have been charged with murder and others with assisting the attackers. All the defendants — who were not present in the courtroom Saturday for security reasons — can appeal the verdict.

In Port Said on Sunday, army troops backed by armored vehicles staked out positions at key government facilities to protect state interests and try to restore order.

The military issued a statement urging Port Said residents to exercise restraint and protect public property, but also warning that troops would deal “firmly” with anyone who “terrorizes” citizens or infringes upon the nation’s security and stability.

Rioters on Saturday attacked the prison where the defendants were being held and tried to storm police stations and government offices around the city. Health officials say at least 37 people were killed, including two policemen, in rioting on Saturday.

The clashes in Port Said were the latest in a bout of unrest across the country that has left a total of 48 people dead since Friday. That death toll includes 11 people killed in clashes between police and protesters marking the second anniversary of the uprising that overthrew Mubarak after nearly 30 years of authoritarian rule.

Clashes broke out in Cairo for the fourth straight day on Sunday, with protesters and police near central Tahrir Square, birthplace of the 2011 uprising. Police fired tear gas while protesters pelted them with rocks.

The clashes show how turmoil was deepening in Egypt nearly seven months after Morsi took office. Critics say Morsi has failed to carry out promised reforms of the judiciary and police, and claim little has improved in the two years since the uprising.

At the heart of the rising opposition toward Morsi’s government is a newly adopted constitution, which was ratified in a nationwide referendum.

Opponents claim the document has an Islamist slant. It was drafted hurriedly by the president’s allies without the participation of representatives of liberals and minority Christians on the panel that wrote the charter.

Protesters on the streets this past week demanded the formation of a national unity government, early presidential elections and amendments to disputed clauses in the constitution.

Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist group from which he hails, counter that the opposition was seeking to overturn the results of democratic and free elections. The Brotherhood, a well-organized and established political group in Egypt for decades, has emerged as by far the most powerful force in post-Mubarak Egypt.

As the situation in Port Said spiraled out of control Saturday, police disappeared from the city’s streets, residents and security officials said, staying put in their camps, police stations and the city’s security headquarters.

The military then dispatched troops to the city, taking up positions at vital state facilities, including the local power and water stations, the city’s main courthouse, the local government building and the city prison. Navy sailors were guarding the local offices of the Suez Canal company.

Navy vessels were escorting merchant ships sailing through the international waterway, a vital income earner for Egypt‘s beleaguered economy. Military helicopters were flying over the canal to ensure the safety of shipping, according to Suez Canal spokesman Tareq Hassanein.

Residents said Port Said was quiet overnight except for intermittent bursts of gunfire. The city was still on edge early Sunday — but streets were largely deserted, stores were closed for the second successive day, and some hotels asked guests to leave, fearing more violence.

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News

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2 soccer players among 27 dead in new riots over death sentences

January 26, 2013 Bartle Doo Leave a comment

The director of hospitals in Egypt’s Mediterranean city of Port Said says two soccer players are among the 27 people killed in riots there.

Violence erupted in Port Said after a judge sentenced 21 people to death in connection with a Feb. 1 soccer melee that killed 74 fans of the Cairo-based Al-Ahly team.

Dr. Abdel-Raham Farah says Mahmoud Abdel-Halim al-Dizawi, a soccer player in Port Said’s Al-Marikh club, was shot three times and died.

He says Tamer al-Fahla, a soccer player who used to play for the city’s main Al-Masry team, was also shot dead on his way to Al-Marikh club.

The club is near a prison residents tried to storm Saturday to free defendants in the soccer trial. The military has been deployed to try and restore security.

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News

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Egyptian court sentences 21 to death over soccer riot

January 26, 2013 Bartle Doo Leave a comment

Egyptian security officials say a senior police officer and a policeman were shot dead in the Mediterranean city of Port Said after a judge sentenced 21 people to death in connection to one of the world’s deadliest incidents of soccer violence.

Officials say that the police were killed when relatives tried to break into the Port Said prison to free the 73 defendants in the case held there.

At least 75 people were wounded in Saturday’s violence outside the prison. Port Said residents also cut off the main road leading to the city.

The verdict comes after a day of clashes between security forces and protesters opposed to Egypt‘s Islamist President Mohammed Morsi that left seven dead.

Fans of al-Ahly, whose stands were attacked by rival club Al-Masry in the Feb. 1 incident in the Mediterranean city of Port Said, had promised more violence if the accused did not receive death sentences.

Families of the victims shouted “Allahu Akbar!,” or God is great, after the judge read out his verdict. One man fainted, while others wailed and cried in disbelief as they carried pictures of the young men killed in the soccer riot.

Judge Sobhi Abdel-Maguid said in his statement read live on state TV that he would announce the verdict for the remaining 52 defendants on March 9.

Among those on trial are nine security officials.

Many Ultras, or die-hard soccer fans, have taken a leading role in protests over the past two years. Both Al-Ahly Ultras and Al-Masry Ultras widely believe that ex-members of the ousted regime of Hosni Mubarak helped instigate the attack, and that the police at the very least were responsible for gross negligence.

It is not clear what kind of evidence, if any, was presented to the court to back up claims that the attack had been orchestrated by regime officials.

As is customary in Egypt, the death sentences will be sent to the nation’s top religious authority, the Grand Mufti, for approval, though the court has final say on the matter.

All of the defendants — who were not present in the courtroom Saturday for security reasons — have the right to appeal the verdict.

The melee was the world’s deadliest soccer violence in 15 years.

In the days leading up to the verdict, Al-Ahly fans warned of bloodshed and “retribution” if death sentences were not handed down. Hundreds of Al-Ahly fans gathered outside the Cairo sports club in anticipation of the verdict, chanting against the police and the government.

“The police are thugs!” yelled relatives of the deceased inside the courtroom before the judge took the bench.

The violence began after the Port Said home team won the Feb. 1 match, 3-1. Al-Masry fans stormed the pitch after the game ended, attacking Cairo’s Al-Ahly fans.

Authorities shut off the stadium lights, plunging it into darkness. In the exit corridor, the fleeing crowd pressed against a chained gate until it broke open. Many were crushed under the crowd of people trying to flee.

Survivors of the riot described a nightmarish scene in the stadium. Police stood by doing nothing, they said, as fans of Al-Masry attacked supporters of the top Cairo club stabbing them and throwing them off bleachers.

Al-Ahly survivors said supporters of Al-Masry carved the words “Port Said” into their bodies and undressed them while beating them with iron bars.

While there has long been bad blood between the two rival teams, many blamed police for failing to perform usual searches for weapons at the stadium.

The soccer fans, known as Ultras, are among Egypt‘s rowdiest and are proud of their hatred for the police, who were the backbone of Mubarak’s authoritarian rule. The Ultras then directed their chants against the military rulers who took over after Mubarak’s ouster in 2011 until Morsi came to power in elections last June.

The Ultras from Egypt‘s sports clubs were engaged in deadly clashes with police near the Interior Ministry headquarters in Cairo that killed 42 people less than three months before the soccer melee in Port Said.

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News

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Death penalty for 21 for Egypt soccer violence

January 26, 2013 Bartle Doo Leave a comment

An Egyptian court sentenced 21 people to death on charges related to one of the world’s deadliest incidents of soccer violence, which killed 74 mostly teenage fans of Egypt‘s most popular sports club last year.