Stampede At Egyptian Game

A real disaster is unfolding in Cairo as a 73 people, including some security personnel, are reported dead after a stampede at an Egyptian league match between Al Masry and Al Ahly,

Egyptian state TV has raised the death toll to 73 after fans of rival soccer teams rushed the field, hurling stones and sticks at each other and sparking a stampede.

State TV cited the Health Ministry and says 1,000 other people were injured in Wednesday’s melee.

A medical official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to release the information, says some of the dead were security officers. Egypt’s state prosecutor has ordered an immediate investigation into the causes of the deaths. Witnesses say most appeared to have occurred in a stampede after fans of the home team, Al-Masry, stormed on to the field following a rare 3-1 win against Al-Ahly, Egypt’s top team. They then chased players and fans from the rival team.

73 dead, 1,000 injured!? This is one of the worst examples of football violence in years.

After witnessing such mayhem and tragedy, Mohamed Barakat and Mohamed Abutrika, two veteran stars of Al Ahly and Egypt's national team have announced their retirement.

I know Egypt is going through post revolutionary tumult, but where was the security?

Apparently the security were just standing still and letting fans pour on to the field, check out this video.

You see the Al Ahly players (in red) making a beeline for their dressing room as fans chase them but look at the supposed police protection just standing there doing nothing?

What depressing news. I know of the rivalry between Al Ahly and Zamalek, Egypt's two biggest clubs. I wonder if there has been a history of violence in the past between Al Ahly and Al Masry? If there was then definitely the security should have been better prepared than they were in this game.

I remember reading during the Egyptian revolution that Al Ahly supporters were key players in the demonstrations in central Cairo. I am just speculating here but I wonder if the security forces inaction was their "payback" towards Al Ahly fans role in the revolution?

Horrific, and very much related to the continuing tensions between the societal forces that got rid of Mubarak and the security forces.

Evidently there have been problems at Al Masry/Ahly matches in the past, but this is looking more and more like the work of useful idiots who have provided the security forces with an excuse for continuing their crackdown on dissent.

The Zamalek ultras were so upset at what happened in Port Said that they burned their anti-Ahly banner in the stands during their match against Ismaili.

This is all unspeakably awful.

Looks like we posted similar thoughts at the same time. I am not too surprised at the political undertones to this tragedy but the mass deaths will likely turn the public even more against them (government security forces) so their plan to look the other way as Al Masry fans did their dirty work likely will backfire. The awful part though is the amount of lives lost.

I hope you are right about the public reaction.

Egypt is going to be an even more dangerous place for people looking to express their opinions in the aftermath of this tragedy.

An article from the Washington Post raising some of the same issues penya and ursus brought up of "outside interests" as being causes of this tragedy:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/at-lea...eTiQ_story.html

The death toll is now up to 74 but this article lists the injured as 200+, not the 1,000 reported before.

Was there a stampede which led to so many deaths or like Heysel a wall collapsing on fans and crushing them? Looking at the video, seems like there were ways out of the seating area for fans being rushed which would make being crushed in a stampede less likely. So were 74 people killed in fighting with rocks and pipes? Seems implausible doesn't it? You can see why so many fingers are being pointed at the security forces.

Looks like we posted similar thoughts at the same time. I am not too surprised at the political undertones to this tragedy but the mass deaths will likely turn the public even more against them (government security forces) so their plan to look the other way as Al Masry fans did their dirty work likely will backfire. The awful part though is the amount of lives lost.

The confluence of sports and politics, this event has become the deadliest one in post revolutionary Egypt and I am with penya, it will become a watershed event in the country's political scene. The massve amount of deaths will turn even more people against the current interim government's crackdowns. There will be more unrest as a result of this tragedy but hopefully it will accelerate the needed political change.

Some fascinating tweets and video from the incident and protesting fans after the event, including the dead and wounded arriving via train back in Cairo at a NY Times blog:

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/0...?ref=middleeast

Some possible explanations also for the high death toll,

But then elsewhere in the blog, this alternative explanation is also quoted, which squarely places blame not on security but on the Al Masry fans,

And this happens after the home team wins the game? Unbelievable.

I did read an article in the paper this morning that said that Egyptian security forces have been told to stand down and avoid physical confrontation. But, how can you let that go on?

FIFA are asking Egypt's FA for explanations on the security breakdown. And today Al Ahly fans, and I am sure many others marched to the Interior Ministry protesting the killings but police then turned tear gas on them. They were prepared for this demonstration but not yesterday's riot!

And to follow up on yesterday's comment about several Al Ahly players retiring,

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/02022012/58/...ypt-deaths.html

Perhaps a heat of the moment response but that would be a big loss for Al Ahly and the Bob Bradley coached Egypt national team.

The best explanation for the very high death toll that I've seen so far is that a majority of the deaths resulted from Ahly supporters trying to flee the stadium through a tunnel which they did not realize had been locked and bolted on the other end. Some supporters were trampled in the resulting crush, while others suffocated.

The public and political response in Egypt has been almost uniform condemnation of the security forces, which gives me even greater hope that the long term outcome that Penya outlined and Martin expanded upon may in fact be realized.

I think long term there is a good chance that the outcome Penya and Martin discussed, political change, will eventually take place with this tragic event being something wich changes the whole discourse. But short term, the government likely will try and crackdown even more on political protestors.

The Egyptian Prime Minister has removed the entire board of Egypt's FA and referred them over to public prosecutors for investigation into yesterday's tragedy. But isn't governmental interference with a FA against FIFA's by laws? Doesn't Egypt risk being banned from FIFA while this happens? Perhaps that is the least of their worries, however, in the present situation?