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Mohammed Asad / AP
An injured security official is carried from a police officers club in an upscale Cairo neighborhood, after fires were set by protesters angry about death sentences imposed on soccer fans over a deadly riot.
Egyptian protesters torched buildings in Cairo and tried unsuccessfully to disrupt international shipping on the Suez Canal, as a court ruling on a deadly soccer riot stoked rage in a country beset by worsening security.
The ruling enraged residents of Port Said, at the northern entrance of the Suez Canal, by confirming death sentences imposed on 21 local soccer fans for their role in the riot last year when more than 70 people were killed.
But the court also angered rival fans in Cairo by acquitting a further 28 defendants that they wanted punished, including seven members of the police force which is reviled across society for its brutality under deposed autocrat Hosni Mubarak.
Security sources said one person had died in Cairo from the effects of tear gas and 65 people were injured, some by rubber bullets.
Saturday's protests and violence underlined how Islamist President Mohamed Mursi is struggling - two years after Mubarak's overthrow - to maintain law and order at a time of economic and political crisis.
On Thursday Egypt's election committee scrapped a timetable under which voting for the lower house of parliament should have begun next month, following a court ruling that threw the entire polling process into confusion.
The stadium riot took place last year at the end of a match in Port Said between local side Al-Masry and Cairo's Al-Ahly team. Spectators were crushed when panicked crowds tried to escape from the stadium after a pitch invasion by Al-Masry supporters. Others fell or were thrown from terraces.
Judge Sobhy Abdel Maguid, listing the names of the 21 Al-Masry fans, said the Cairo court had confirmed "the death penalty by hanging". He also sentenced five more people to life imprisonment while others out of a total of 73 defendants received shorter terms.
In Cairo, local Al-Ahly fans vented their rage at the acquittals, setting fire to a police social club, the nearby offices of the Egyptian soccer federation and a branch of a fast food chain, sending smoke rising over the capital.
A military helicopter scooped up water from the nearby Nile and dropped it on the burning buildings.
"Ultra" fans, the section of Al-Ahly supporters responsible for much of the violence, said they awaited retribution for those who had planned the Port Said "massacre".
"What is happening today in Cairo is the beginning of the anger. Wait for more if the remaining elements embroiled in this massacre are not revealed," the Ultras said in a statement.
PROTESTERS TARGET CANAL
Mohamed Muslemany / NBC News
A man rescues soccer trophies from the Egyptian Football Association after the building was torched by angry soccer fans.
In Port Said, where the army took over security in the city center from the police on Friday, about 2,000 residents who want the local fans spared from execution blockaded ferries crossing the Suez Canal. Witnesses said youths also untied moored speedboats used to supply shipping on the waterway, hoping the boats would drift into the path of passing vessels.
Military police recovered five speedboats and brought them back to shore, but two were still drifting, one witness said.
Authorities controlling the Canal, an artery for global trade and major income source for the Egyptian government, said through traffic had not been affected. "The canal ... is safe and open to all ships passing through it," Suez Canal Authority spokesman Tarek Hassanein told the MENA news agency.
The canal is a major employer in Port Said and, until now, protesters had declared it off-limits for the demonstrations apart from on one occasion when red balloons marked "SOS" were floated into the waterway.
In a separate security threat, the Interior Ministry ordered police in the Sinai peninsula to raise their state of emergency after receiving intelligence that jihadists might attack their forces there, MENA reported.
Officials have expressed growing worries about security in the desert region which borders Israel and is home to a number of tourist resorts. In August last year Islamist militant gunmen killed at least 15 Egyptian policemen in an assault on a police station on the border with Israel, before seizing two military vehicles and attempting to storm the frontier.
Last Thursday, Bedouin gunmen briefly held the head of U.S. oil major ExxonMobil in Egypt and his wife. The Britons, who had been heading for a Sinai resort, were released unharmed.
General unrest is rife as the Egypt's poor suffer badly from the economic crisis. Foreign currency reserves have slid to critically low levels and are now little more than a third of what they were in the last days of Mubarak.
The Egyptian pound has lost 14 percent against the dollar since the 2011 revolution and the budget deficit is soaring to unmanageable levels due to the huge cost of fuel and food subsidies. Egypt agreed a $4.8 billion loan with the International Monetary Fund last November, but Cairo requested a delay due to street violence the following month.
Analysts say the chances of an IMF deal are slim until the electoral chaos is sorted out, but question how much longer the government can hold out without international funding.
Unrest has plagued Port Said since the death sentences were first handed down to the Al-Masry supporters in January, with locals fighting pitched battles with police. At least eight people have been killed this week, including three policemen.
The Cairo court also jailed two senior police officers for 15 years on Saturday for their handling of the riot.
However, some fans in Cairo were happy with the confirmation of the death sentences. "This is a just verdict and has calmed us all down. Our martyrs have been vindicated," Said Sayyid, 21, told Reuters.
Related:
At least 30 die in clashes over Egypt soccer disaster verdict
'People are dying in front of us': Scores killed in riots after Egypt soccer match
This story was originally published on Sat Mar 9, 2013 4:12 AM EST
Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.
Leave a Comment:
Another prime example of the peacefulness and loving qualities of the moozies.
""The Minister of Interior has raised the level of emergency in North and South Sinai after receiving information that jihadist groups intend to attack police buildings there," Interior Ministry official General Osama Ismail said"
Just a sample of invention of stories and then start of hating and killings to come under Sharia laws!
Tearing to pieces has just started.
F Egypt
What's a moozie? A racist term?
Send them more money. They'll figure it out on their own.
Moozie? Probably a derogatory term for a Muslim person. So no, not racist.
Hey, U.S. Government ----- Please --- DO NOT give any funding to any organization in Egypt, including not only military equipment (20 F-16s, 200 tanks). but also cash, and/or supplies of any kind. The matters and problems are local. Let the Egyptians settle their own difficulties. If any of their Middle Eastern neighbors wish to help out, fine. We simply cannot afford to further any assistance anymore to ANY FOREIGN GOVERNMENT OR COUNTRY. We must close the pay window. Any and all of those funds allocated for other countries should be redirected to assist our own countrymen with housing, clothing, healthcare, and FOOD. We need to withdraw from taking such an active CENTRAL ROLE in every single crisis throughout the world. This includes giving assistance to any and all of our "allies", yes, including Israel, as well. Perhaps we don't have to become a completely isolationist country, but we need to pull back and reasses our positions with all countries which we maintain ties with. If for no other reason than financially --- ENOUGH !
When Muslims kill do they look at the color, state/nation, even their own sect (Shiites vs Sunnis in Syria, Bahrain and other places, or Muslim females (Pakistan, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia and other basket case nations) and non-Muslims?
Why do hair splitting on whether moozie is a racist term and so on?
These days all terms/actions are fare when it comes to hating and killing Muslims.
Whoo hoo..kill kill kill..the more the better..since they are all ANIMALS
A simple scocer game and deaths..end them all!
Ping Pong in China is next for deaths I bet! :)
First off I coudn't care less. The next thing is that over 40 people were shot and killed by the police. Were they among the ones sentenced to death.
Hummmmmmmmmm .. Sure .. What's it really matter unless it's you or your family that's dying ....
"Farewell The Rights of Man ..."
Man. They must really love their soccer over there. First, they have a riot over soccer and 70 people die. Then they order 21 rioters to be executed because of soccer. Then, because 21 people have been sentenced to death, they have a riot, in which more people are killed.
Because of soccer. What is the matter with those people?
There have been similar incidents of soccer fan violence throughout Europe, including in the more "advanced" countries.
Well put Theowhy- I think it was England where there were deaths from trampling, but I don't think people were thrown out of stands. I don't think this violence in Egypt is related to being Muslim as it was not like a Sunni-Shia hatred. It was more a cultural thing among certain personality types with certain groups led by sociopaths and hotheads.
In England, there was a fire in the stands and many fans died. America has violence among fans too. In Los Angeles a baseball fan was brain injured by rival fans just recently. No country is immune to fan violence. The riot in Egypt was planned however.
Lets give them a few more millions dollars , we can afford it. lol
Yep. I have yet to hear a reasonable explanation why the Muslim Brotherhood can have F-16s and Abrams tanks, but I can't be trusted with a semi-automatic rifle with a flash suppressor.
Because you are not part of the Muslim Brotherhood? This is America? uhh Your not declaring Jihads? Sorry Rambo
The contraction of "you are" is "you're." "Your" is a possessive pronoun. Sorry to play the Grammar Police, but this misuse seems to be epidemic on the internet. It's 4th-grade grammar, not rocket science. How do people today in America get HS diplomas or even college degrees without knowing how to use their own language?
Ron and all the other Grammar/Spelling Police, have you not yet responded to your penile enhancement ads in your Email?
Ron, don't even get me started on the morons that can't distinguish the difference between "loose" and "lose". It's amazing how many illiterates are on here.
Ron, it was a fu*king typo. Get over yourself chico. Usted es un perdedor.
...your a looser.
Yet another country that is quickly working its way back to the stone age.
Since when did it ever leave it ? !! Their religion(?) is keeping them there.
Brad, if we keep butting everybody's business, we're ALL going back to the Stone Age
We should spend the foreign-aid money installing bleachers around the entire region and sell tickets.
If every country in the world would execute those involved in rioting whether or not any actual deaths occured it would not be long before there were no terrorists/rioters left alive to riot. Their actions led directly to the deaths of 70 innocent victims and death is to good for any of those involved.
Better yet, execute them on the spot. The NFL would rule the ratings.
That sounds good on paper, but when you have evil leaders in charge, that's exactly what would happen. It's called oppression, dictatorship, etc , etc.
This is a Muslim Country. Death is their way of Life. Let the Blood flow freely so Allah will be pleased
What about Christians, females and sane Muslims and minority sect (Shiites) and tribe Muslims who don't like Saudi Arabia like Sharia Laws?
At least, let us morally support those who intend to oppose those who are forcing barbaric and beastly seventh century bigoted Salaffi/Wahhabi Sharia laws.
Can you walk into a crowd of Muslims and tell the difference.
On second thought I will separate them the same way they separated us on 9/11 in New York, Pennsylvania and Washington. Now I always want to be fair
Johnny, "sane muslims?" The so-called sane muslims have had ample opportunity to express their wishes. And they have: They have supported the "extremists in every way. It is a liberal fantasy that there are big blocks of muslims who just want to get along and be tolerant of other beliefs. There is no such group. For every individual that may fit that bill, there are thousands that prove them wrong.
Am I the only one that got your pun ? "Death.....way of life" ..... ha ha ha ha ha
Compromise now and Steve the dog man: I will have to agree with you.
I was imagining that at least 10 percent of Muslims should be sane!
If there was some sanity among Muslims, there should not be Shiites vs Sunni battles in many places including blowing up their mosques.
If this is the case with Muslims themselves, then imagine the fate of non-Muslims among them.
In Egypt, the Sunni extremists with labels like Salaffi and MB (Muslim Bloodhounds) are opening up new chapters of Islamic bigotry. Morsi is just a front for them.
All sane Egyptians including army should overthrow seventh century desert mindset Muslim Bloodhounds, Salaffi and other label Sunni haters and killers before it is too late.
These Sunni Islamists know only inventing enemies and then hating and killing.
Just watch the fate of sane Muslims, minority sect/tribe people, Christians, females and others under Sharia Laws.
Israel will also have a major enemy next door.
Followers of Islamic cult, especially House of Saud and other Sunni ME rulers inspired and funded Sunni Islamic radicals and militants (al-Qaida, Salaffi, Wahhabi, MB, Taliban and other label ones), are fast marching backwards to their seventh century desert tribal days.
They are indulging in rapings, lootings, killings and genocides of non-Muslims (Darfur, S. Sudan, Nigeria and spreading like wild fire in many regions and Muslims (Libya, Yemen, Mali, Iraq, Syria, Pakistan, Afghanistan and other places).
No tax monies to any one of the Islamist invented hating and killing fields.
Its a freakin game! What is wrong with soccer fans?
Somebody should dump a supply of thorazine into the water supply.
Riots in Egypt? Let 'em all kill each other. Zzzzzzzzzzzzz.............
Israel has offered assistance in case any of them survive ! LOL LOL
Blaming the police for doing their jobs seems to be world wide. Yet without the police what would be left. The military.
Would they have rather the military have rounded up the people who are to blame for the killing of the 27 in the first riot, (over a frenking ball game) and just shot them without any kind of trial, or one that would be fixed?
Or maybe they would just have let the murders go unpunished? What does that say about the people of this country? Ya, back to the stone age.
What culpability does the U.S. have for supporting their revolution and starting this mess.
Just another Hillary Clinton foreign policy success. Remember, "the Muslim Brotherhood constitutes only a small number of Egyptians and they are not seeking power."
Is there any occurrence in the Muslim countries that does not "spark violence"? The clock strikes "one" and everyone jumps up and starts murdering those around them.
These people are apparently congenital morons. Why do we continue to coddle Islam and endure its excesses?
Steve, did you forget that we have forces high up in our government that loves Muslims?
What? Are going to drag out that tired shop-worn accusation that Obama is a secret Muslim? Can't you Obama-haters be a little more creative?
Oh, I don't think he's so secret. Recited the shahada to Stephanopoulos, which by the rules of most imams makes one a Muslim. Said it was the prettiest sound on earth. Was raised Muslim. Had two Muslim daddies (Muslim law says that the child of a muslim father IS a Muslim) and etc.
Obama has claimed to be a muslim...Ronny....are you calling your hero a liar? No need to be creative when he has claimed to be a muslim in speeches and his book. He also claims to be "foreign born", as does his wife claim he was.
So Ron...they're both liars? Shame on you for defaming B. Hussein Obama and his property.
Hahahahahahahaha!! Some Arab Spring!! It is working winders ain't it??? Eff them all, I say more riots is a good thing, let them burn their own countries to the ground!!!
Just ban soccer in all Muslim countries. Buzkashi suits their temperament much better, and those fans seldom become violent, since they are usually too high on hashish and opium.
Goody! More dead Muslims is happy news to me. Why don't they all commit suicide so they can get to Heaven faster--except that there is no Heaven, but all the Muslims are dead, thus a wonderful outcome.
I think the guy in the photograph looks more like he was stealing the trophies during the riot....just saying.
Yes folks, we still allow immagration from these sub-terranean cultures.
No serious commentary here today. Just the same old "kill "em all" rants.
I do not trust Islam. But I don't trust American Christianity, either, especially the "Dominionists" who seek to rewrite American history and falsely claim that our country was founded on Biblical principles.
Yeah, sure, and I guess we stone adulterers and kill unbelievers just as depicted in the Bible. And we mustn't forget infanticide and genocide and incest, all depicted and allowed by God in the OT.
The Muslims got much of their religious ideals and history from the Christians and Jews, whom they now kill with such glee. But I wonder if the critics of Islam here are as critical of their own religion. Hmm?
No. Don't have to be. My branch of Christian religion doesn't killl people in the name of God either.
You forgot about the Crusades. Every war the US entered , the refrain God is on our was uttered. I figure that's killing in the name of God
rightthewrong: quick history lesson: when did the crusades end? That's right, about 700 (SEVEN HUNDRED) years ago. Islam has made no changes in the past 1300 years.
I'm surprised this made the US news. Justin Bieber did pass out on stage after all
Automatic rifles in schools and games. then we will end violence. The world has gone nuts.
It sounds like the whole country needs to be hung for shear stupidity.
One grows weary of posting about the hideous problem of Muslim countries. Really, Egypt was much better worshiping the pharaohs. Or the Sun God Aten.
RA! RA! ISIS scores and the score is one to NUN!
You really don't need much for Egyptians to start a riot - kinda their national pastime.
And anywhere in the world, if you tell a muslim that someone defaced a koran - instant riot!