In the seaside city of Port Said, Egypt a soccer game turned ugly and over seventy people were left dead. The match was between two Egyptian club teams; Al-Masry, the home team, and Al-Ahly, a Cairo based team.
When Al-Masry beat Al-Ahly 3-1 in a massive upset, the crowd began to turn violent. Rival fans began throwing bottles and rocks at players. According to CNN many Al-Ahly fans were unable to exit the bleachers during the fighting because police refused to open the exit gates.
Ever since Former President Hosni Mubarak was forced out of power in a popular uprising, security and police have been futile. Fans reported that police stood by and watched while others were being beaten and stabbed to death. Other deaths occurred from fans falling off bleachers and being caught under massive piles of people.
This is single handedly the worst soccer riot to date. Hours after the fighting, Cairo protestors began chanting, "Down with the military rule...Tomorrow we come, we take the military down." While the fighting started because of soccer, it became very clear that these riots were for political reasons.
During Egypt's revolution, many organized soccer groups became political voices for change. The former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak used soccer matches to boost his popularity while in office and became closely tied to the organized soccer groups.
If one thing is clear, it is that the Egyptian military needs to reestablish its dominance before more riots break out. CNN's James Montague stated, "There's been a security vacuum, so we don't know whether it's that or whether there's a Mubarak element to it. We just don't know at the moment."
This unfortunate event is still very fresh and as more news becomes clear, updated information will be made available.
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