Protests escalate in Egypt after deadly soccer riot

[No Elephants]

Source: cnn

Protests escalate in Egypt after deadly soccer riot
From Mohamed Fadel Fahmy, For CNN
updated 4:18 PM EST, Fri February 3, 2012


Cairo (CNN) -- Clashes reignited in Egypt on Friday between police and protesters angered by reports of inadequate security at a soccer match that devolved into a riot this week, leaving 79 people dead.

Thousands of protesters gathered outside the Interior Ministry in Cairo, prompting riot police to deploy tear gas for fear the men -- some of them masked -- would storm the building.

"The people demand the downfall of the field marshal," chanted the protesters, who waved flags from the popular soccer team Al-Ahly, which was playing in the game Wednesday in Port Said after which the riot broke out.

Gen. Marwan Mustapha, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry, said protesters who had taken over a government taxation building were throwing Molotov cocktails from the roof. Nearly 200 police officers were injured, several by birdshot pellets, Mustapha said.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2012/02/03/world/africa/egypt-soccer-deaths/index.html?hpt=hp_t3

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Two were killed and more than 1400 were injured. Clashes were also reported in Suez, where two died and 18 or more were injured.

And while people die for democracy in the Middle East, we disregard one Constitutional provision after another.

[Sapphocrat]

1. I'll never understand soccer hooliganism.

I mean, I'll never understand such slavish devotion to any sport, as if one's very survival depended on one's team winning a mere game -- but why does soccer, especially, result in so much carnage?

Well, I guess it's better than war. Comparatively speaking.

[No Elephants]

3. Based on reading only a few stories, it seems there were organized troublemakers at that

soccer game who deliberately inflamed the crowd.

Reportedly, exits were locked, which is the reason many died--crushed in a stampede to try to leave the arena.

And, supposedly, authorities stood by watching, doing nothing.

IOW, it does not seem as though this was garden variety, spontaneously erupting sports-related shenanigans, though they are bad enough.

Of course, those allegations could be bs and/or conspiracy theorizing. Hard to know.

However, at this point, they are demonstrating about the failure of authorities to step in and try to help. So, we are past the point of sports hooliganism, in and of itself.

[Sapphocrat]

2. Self-delete -- dupe