Soccer deaths renews spotlight on Egypt’s notorious security forces
A stampede at a Cairo stadium earlier this month, much like a politically-loaded soccer brawl in the Suez Canal city of Port Said three years ago, is shining a spotlight on Egypt’s unreformed, unabashedly violent, and politically powerful police and security forces amid confusion over what precisely happened and how many fans died.
Amid security forces holding fans and fans holding police responsible and conflicting assertions of the number of people who died in the incident one thing stands out: the deep-seated distrust and animosity between significant segments of the Egyptian public and an unreformed security force that was long the hated symbol of the regime of toppled President Hosni Mubarak; played a key role in persuading the military in 2013 to overthrow Egypt’s first and only democratic elected president; and has since left a bloody of brutal violence as evidenced by the deaths of some 1,400 anti-government protesters in the last 19 months.
The Amnesty report described various incidents of excessive force by security forces in clashes with soccer fans since the fall of Mr.
Amnesty said security forces had employed force “on a scale not seen” since the uprising against Mr.
Some two months later, security forces killed another 16 fans and injured hundreds of others in four days of protests in the wake of the Port Said incident.
In February 2012, police and security forces stood aside as 74 fans of storied Cairo club Al Ahli SC died in a stampede in a stadium in Port Said sparked by an attack by supporters of rival Al Masri SC and allegedly unknown armed elements.
The incident is widely viewed as an effort backed by security forces and the military to cut down to size militant Al Ahli supporters who like their arch rivals from Al Zamalek SC played a key role in the toppling of Mr.
Like in Port Said, the interior ministry which oversees the security forces rejects any responsibility for the deaths a week ago in Cairo as a result of police firing tear gas into a narrow corridor of metal barricades and barbed wire as thousands of fans waited to enter the Air Defence stadium.
Mortada’s siding with the government in blaming the fans rather than the security forces for the deaths bodes ill for already strained relations between Zamalek’s management, players and fans.
The stark dividing lines between management, players and fans coupled with the fans deep-seated distrust of the interior ministry and the security forces reinforced by the absence of any attempt by the government to project a unambigious willingness to independently investigate and curb excessive police force is preparing the ground for further confrontation.