Police fired salvos of tear gas and birdshot Friday at rock-throwing
protesters in Cairo as popular anger over a deadly soccer riot spilled
over into a second day of street violence that left at least four people
dead and more than 1,500 injured nationwide, officials said.
The
protesters blame the police for failing to prevent a melee after a
soccer match in the Mediterranean city of Port Said on Wednesday that
killed 74 people. The violence — the soccer world's worst in 15 years —
also has fueled frustration with the ruling generals who took power
after the uprising that ousted President Hosni Mubarak last February.
On Friday, Egyptians furious over the bloodshed took to the streets in Cairo, Alexandria, Suez and several Nile Delta cities.
The
biggest demonstrations were in the capital, however, where protesters
wearing helmets and gas masks fought their way through streets thick
with smoke from tear gas toward the Interior Ministry, a frequent target
for demonstrations because it is responsible for the police. The
demonstrators say they don't want to storm the ministry, but to hold a
sit-in in front of it.
Many protesters have suggested the
authorities either instigated the Port Said violence or intentionally
allowed it to happen to retaliate against the soccer fans known as
Ultras who played a key role in clashes with security forces during the
uprising that toppled Mubarak.
"I came down because what happened
in Port Said was a political plan from the military to say it's either
them or chaos," said 19-year-old Islam Muharram.
The clashes in
Cairo began late Thursday and escalated overnight, with protesters
pushing through the barricades erected around the fortress-like building
and bringing down a wall of concrete blocks erected outside the
ministry two months ago, after similar violence left more than 40
protesters dead.
Ambulances and volunteers on motorcycles ferried
the injured, most of them suffering respiratory problems from the tear
gas, to field hospitals set up nearby on Tahrir Square.
On the
square Friday, thousands of people rallied to condemn the security
forces for failing to stop the Port Said bloodshed, and pointed to the
incident to bolster their claims that the military has mismanaged
Egypt's transition to a democracy. They also called for early
presidential elections and demanded the army speed up the transfer of
power to a civilian administration.
Meanwhile, some 1,500
protesters marched to the Defense Ministry, chanting "the people want to
execute the marshal," referring to Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, the
head of the ruling military council.
The death toll from Friday's violence stood at four.
One security officer was killed and 138 injured, according to the official MENA news agency.
One
protester in Cairo was killed after being hit by birdshot at close
range, a volunteer doctor said on condition of anonymity because he
feared reprisals by the authorities. He said four protesters have lost
an eye from birdshot, and that his field hospital close to Tahrir Square
was overwhelmed with the wounded overnight.
Two protesters also were killed in Suez by police who opened fire, said health official Mohammed Lasheen.
About
3,000 people demonstrated in front of the Suez police headquarters,
prompting police to fire tear gas and live ammunition, witnesses said. A
third protester in Suez was in critical condition with a wound to the
neck.
The chief of security in Suez denied the deaths there were from police gunfire.
In
Alexandria, thousands of people, some of them carrying photos of those
killed in the soccer riot, protested in front of the city's military
headquarters, while in Port Said, hundreds of protesters rallied in the
streets to condemn the attacks on the soccer fans. Some of the
demonstrators held banners that read: "Port Said is innocent, this is a
cheap conspiracy."
The Interior Ministry urged the protesters in a
statement "to listen to the sound of wisdom ... at these critical
moments" and prevent the spread of chaos.
Many in the public and
in the newly elected parliament, which held an emergency session
Thursday to discuss the violence, blamed the new leadership for letting
the soccer riot happen — whether due to a lack of control by the
security forces, or as some allege, intentionally.
The violence in
Port Said began after home team Al-Masry pulled off a 3-1 upset win
over Cairo's Al-Ahly, Egypt's most powerful club. Al-Masry fans stormed
the field, rushing past lines of police to attack Al-Ahly fans.
Survivors
described a nightmarish scene in the stadium. Police stood by doing
nothing, they said, as Al-Masry fans attacked Al-Ahly supporters,
stabbing them and throwing them off bleachers. The parliament later
accused the interior minister of "negligence."
Youssef, an 18-year
old Al-Ahly supporter who was being treated Friday by the field doctor
in Cairo for birdshot in his back and arms, said he had been throwing
rocks at the police when he was injured.
"What can I do? I am here
to get justice for my beloved brothers who died. I will either get it
or I'd rather die like them," said Youssef, who would not give his
second name because he feared for his life.
Associated Press writer Hadeel al-Shalchi contributed to this report.
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