12/21/24
February 02, 2012
79 Die in Clash of Egyptian Soccer Fans: Seventy nine people were killed in Egypt during a soccer riot after the match between the Al-Ahly and Al-Masry teams Wednesday. Shortly after the final whistle sounded in Al-Masry's 3-1 victory at home, the team's fans stormed the pitch, ran to where visiting fans were seated and rival fans fought with rocks and chairs. Video from Al Jazeera shows fans chasing the Al-Ahly players and riot police doing nothing.
Freedom and tolerance are wonderful things, but you can't have one without the other. It can take awhile to figure out.
posted by Atheist at 12:28 PM on February 02, 2012
Video from Al Jazeera shows fans chasing the Al-Ahly players and riot police doing nothing.
Al-Ahly Ultras played a large role in the uprising last year. It's been suggested that the police did nothing to stop Al Masry supporters as retribution for the protests.
Three top players have announced their retirement because of the violence.
posted by goddam at 04:12 PM on February 02, 2012
I lived in Egypt for about 3 1/2 years, and I found that Egyptians were not terribly violent people. Quite the contrary, they were more likely to avoid confrontation and try to understand what the problem might have been. However, I did see that when provoked to the point of anger, the Egyptians could be pretty volatile. Since football is taken pretty seriously in most places in the world, it is not a surprise to me that such violence could erupt even among normally placid Egyptians. That it became political is even less surprising after the events of the past year.
posted by Howard_T at 04:33 PM on February 02, 2012
Yeah, I have a strong suspicion that had little to do with football.
posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 09:53 PM on February 02, 2012
It's like another Hillsborough disaster.
I hope that's not a troll. As Weedy says, all signs point to political violence with just the setting being a football stadium.
posted by owlhouse at 03:29 AM on February 03, 2012
The comparison was due to the scope of the casualties. But a lot of the dead were killed in the crush of people trying to escape, not fighting opposing fans, so there are similarities.
From the Guardian: "Those trying to flee the seething fans and their weapons instead found exit gates closed. The ensuing Hillsborough-like situation led to hundreds of people being crushed, as the outnumbered police stood by." The Egyptian Health Ministry said most died of suffocation, head trauma and stampede-related injuries.
posted by rcade at 07:42 AM on February 03, 2012
Anyone but me ever read Ryszard Kapuscinski's (sp?) "The Soccer War"?
posted by lil_brown_bat at 12:52 PM on February 03, 2012
"Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #145,763 in Books"
Yes.
posted by yerfatma at 01:18 PM on February 03, 2012
The Hillsborough comparison is superficially valid in terms of the crush being the main killer, but all signs point to some kind of political score-settling. The al-Ahly ultras were originally recruited to crack protestors' heads -- 'bring in outside thugs' being a standard counter-demonstration tactic -- but went over to the opposition side when they got to Tahrir Square.
posted by etagloh at 02:52 PM on February 04, 2012
When I hear the word "Hillsborough", I think of negligent policing, poor crowd management and a cover up. There was no hint of any inter-fan violence, or that police actively encouraged the crush that killed the fans.
This one smacks of pre-planned violence by one group against another, with police taking no action to prevent it, or possibly complicit. The jury is still out on whether the exit gates were locked deliberately or if it was normal practice at the stadium.
posted by owlhouse at 12:32 AM on February 05, 2012
It's like another Hillsborough disaster.