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February 2nd, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda
The few police on duty, despite a history of clashes between the teams, seemed
to react slowly if at all. Moreover, the Al-Ahly Ultras, its fan club, were
prominent on Tahrir Square during and after last year’s revolution in Egypt,
leading to a swirl of conspiracy theories suggesting the violence was
orchestrated as an act of revenge.
There was little direct evidence of a conspiracy, but Thursday is the first
anniversary of the day that groups of men hired by the regime, some on
horse- and camel-back, tried to charge the protesters in Tahrir Square in an
attempt to save President Mubarak’s political life.
The violence began immediately on the final whistle, as the fans of the home
team, Al-Masry, swarmed on to the pitch putting the players to flight.
Players fled to their changing rooms, from where the Al-Ahly team called their
in-house television channel to give eye witness accounts and denounce the
lack of security.
The authorities said 74 people were killed, including ground security staff
and one policeman, and 248 injured, and said most had been crushed or
suffocated, though some had stab wounds.
“There are 11 deaths at my hospital,” Medhat El-Esnawy, the manager of Port
Said’s El-Amiry hospital said. “Two other hospitals have 25 deaths. Three
fans have also died in the stadium.” Commentators on the main football
programme wept on air, one screaming at the camera that the sport was not
worth what had happened, while the former player analysts sat with their
heads in their hands. The Al-Ahly channel put one of the club’s veteran
players, Mohamed Abou-Treika, live on air from the changing rooms.
“The security forces left us, they did not protect us,” he said. “One fan has
just died in the dressing room in front of me.
“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 ambulances.
“I call for the premier league to be cancelled. This is horrible situation and
today can never be forgotten.”
Another, Mohamed Barakat, a midfielder, said: “It is our fault because we
played that match. The authorities are afraid to cancel the league because
they just care about money, they do not care about the lives of people.” In
Cairo, protesting fans flocked to the streets around the Al-Ahly club, and
hundreds more went to the main railway station in the middle of the night to
meet the survivors as they returned, some bearing signs of the fighting.
Meanwhile, the Cairo International Stadium, which Al-Ahly shares with its
local rivals Zamalek, was briefly set on fire after the evening game there
was cancelled as a mark of respect.
It was initially blamed on an electrical short circuit. However, television
pictures clearly showed fireworks being shot from the stands in protest
after the announcement that the game between Zamalek and Ismaily was being
called off at half-time.
The violence is a telling sign of the lack of security in Egypt following last
year’s revolution. That was in part triggered by outrage at unchecked
brutality by police, and one of the Mubarak regime’s first responses was to
call them off the streets and put the army in charge of protests.
But since then it has proved difficult to persuade even beat policemen to
return. As a sign of the sport’s nervousness, the Al-Ahly team was earlier
on Wednesday shown arriving in Port Said in a convoy of police trucks.
Egyptian teams have devoted fan bases known as Ultras in imitation of their
European equivalents, and, leaving aside the claims of premeditation, the
two sets of fans involved in last night’s violence have a history of bad
blood and have fought before.
The country’s newly elected parliament will hold an emergency session on
Thursday, while Samir Faher, head of the Egyptian Football Association,
announced the Premier League was being suspended.
By then, the two main clubs in Egypt’s second city Alexandria, Ittihad and
Smouha, had already announced they were withdrawing from the league, while
several of the Al-Ahly team vowed never to play again.
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