FOOTBALL TRAGEDY SPARKS CLASHES
CAIRO: Two Egyptian protesters were shot dead during clashes with police on Thursday night in the city of Suez, medical sources said, amid anger over the deaths of 74 people in football-related violence.
Thirty people were injured in the clashes that killed the two men, the sources added, without saying who fired the fatal shots.
Witnesses said that police had fired tear gas in a bid to disperse hundreds of protesters before resorting to live ammunition.
However, a security source said that officers had not opened fire on the protesters, adding that hundreds of people who “attacked” the local security head- quarters in the northeastern city were themselves armed.
Earlier on Thursday, thousands had rallied against the ruling military council, which took power when strongman Hosni Mubarak was ousted a year ago, and accused it of mismanaging the country during a fragile transition.
Black- clad riot police fired tear gas at demonstrators trying to reach the interior ministry. The protesters were furious over the lack of police intervention in Wednesday’s violence in the northern city of Port Said.
State television said that 628 people were injured during the violence in the capital, mostly from tear gas inhalation.
Calm appeared to have returned to the center of Cairo overnight, according to images aired on state television. However, groups of protesters continued to mingle near the interior ministry and in the emblematic Tahrir Square.
The protests were sparked by Wednesday’s deadly violence between fans of Port Said home team Al-masry and Cairo’s Al-ahly, which marked one of the deadliest incidents in football history.
Those clashes erupted at the final whistle of a match that saw Al-masry beat Al-ahly, 3-1.
Al- Masry fans invaded the pitch, throwing rocks, bottles and fireworks at Al- Ahly supporters, causing chaos and panic as players and fans fled in all directions, witnesses said.
Thousands of people gathered in the roads leading to the interior ministry in Cairo demanding the ouster of military ruler Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, with some calling for his execution.
Every tear gas canister fired sent the crowds running, only to regroup and march again.
Injured protesters were ferried away by motorbike as ambulances whizzed through nearby Tahrir Square—the epicenter of the upris- ing that toppled Mubarak—toward the site of the clashes.
Hundreds of Al-ahly fans, wearing their team T-shirts and waving flags, were joined by others on the march from their club headquarters to the interior ministry via Tahrir Square.
“This was not a sports accident, this was a military massacre!” the crowds chanted.
Prime Minister Kamal al-ganzuri, meanwhile, told an emergency session of parliament on the tragedy that the Egyptian football association’s director and board had been sacked, as was Port Said’s security chief.
Ganzuri said that the Port Said governor had also offered his resignation, and that it had been accepted.
However, furious lawmakers demanded the sacking of Interior Min- ister Mohammed Ibrahim, who sat solemnly in the assembly, listening to accusations of negligence.
Al-ahly’s most ardent supporters, the Ultras, were active in the revolt that overthrew Mubarak.
State television ran footage of riot police standing rigidly in rows as pandemonium erupted around them.
The interior minister has said that most of the deaths were caused by the crush, but doctors said that some people were stabbed.
The health ministry said that 74 people were killed, including a policeman. Hundreds were reported wounded, and police said that 47 people were arrested.
The ruling military has announced three days of national mourning for the victims.