At least 73 people have been killed in clashes after a football game in the Egyptian city of Port Said, medics say. About 1,000 others were injured in Wednesday’s violence, including police. At least two players suffered light injuries. Fans of the winning al-Masry team flooded the field seconds after the match with al-Ahly, Egypt’s top team, was over. A security official said the fans chased the players and cornered their supporters on the field and around the stadium, Thousands of supporters covered the field, as seen in a video posted online. “This is unfortunate and deeply saddening. It is the biggest disaster in Egypt’s soccer history,” Hesham Sheiha, deputy health minister, said. He said most of the injuries were caused by concussion and deep cuts. Al-Ahly football players were trapped in the changing room along with supporters. Riot police were sent in to drive the rival crowds of fans back. ‘War, not football’ Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, the head of the country’s ruling military council, sent army helicopters to transfer al-Ahly football players and injured fans from Port Said. Private cars helped to shuttle the injured across the city to hospitals. “This is not football. This is a war and people are dying in front of us. There is no movement and no security and no The Muslim Brotherhood, the country’s largest political force, accused supporters of ousted President Hosni Mubarak of instigating the violence.State television announced that parliament will hold an emergency session over the violence. State prosecutors ordered an investigation into the pitch invasion and the violence that ensued. “The events in Port Said are planned and are a message from the remnants of the former regime,” parliamentarian Essam al-Erian said in a statement on the group’s Freedom and Justice Party website. Al-Ahly’s supporter club, Ultras, said on their website that they would head to Port Said later in the evening. Al-Masry team won a rare 3-1 against Al-Ahly. The two teams have a long history of bad blood, and clashes have erupted in recent years between their fans. Al Jazeera’s Rawya Rageh, reporting from Cairo, said several football games after the revolution have witnessed violence due to the absence of police forces. “In the security vacuum that has lasted since the revolution, the police force has basically disappeared from the street after their notorious performance during the revolution.” A match in Cairo on Wednesday evening was interrupted following the news of the deaths in Port Said. Television footage showed a big fire behind the supporter stand at the Cairo stadium. The Premier League, which the games were part of, was suspended indefinitely. |
