A
riot broke out outside a high-profile football game in Egypt, with a stampede
and fighting between police and fans killing at least 25 people.
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Stadium
Trouble: The incident happened outside this stadium, picture before trouble
broke out (Photo: Getty)
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The
riot, only three years after similar violence killed 74 people, began ahead of
a match between Egyptian Premier League clubs Zamalek and ENPPI at Air Defence
Stadium east of Cairo.
Mirror UK reports two
security officials said at least 25 people were killed. Egypt has now suspended
football league matches 'indefinitely' following the deaths.
Egypt's
public prosecutor issued a statement ordering an investigation.
After
convening an emergency meeting to discuss the violence, the Cabinet announced
that it was postponing upcoming football matches until further notice, Egypt's
state television said.
What
caused the violence was not immediately clear. Security officials said Zamalek
fans tried to force their way into the match without tickets, sparking clashes.
Fans
have only recently been allowed back at matches and the interior ministry
planned to let only 10,000 fans into the stadium, which has a capacity of about
30,000, the officials said.
Zamalek
fans, known as "White Knights," posted on their group's official
Facebook page that the violence began because authorities only opened one
narrow, barbed-wire door to let them in.
They
said that sparked pushing and shoving that later saw police officers fire tear
gas and birdshot.
A
fan who tried to attend the game said the stampede was caused by police who
fired tear gas at the tightly packed crowd.
"Those
who fell down could not get back up again," the man said.
The
Zamalek fan group later posted pictures on Facebook it claimed were of dead
fans, including the names of 22 people it said had been killed.
Egypt's
hardcore football fans, known as Ultras, frequently clash with police inside
and outside of stadiums.
They
are deeply politicized and many participated in the country's 2011 uprising
that forced out President Hosni Mubarak.
Many
consider them as one of the most organized movements in Egypt after the Islamist
Muslim Brotherhood, which the government later outlawed as a terrorist organization
following the 2013 military overthrow of Islamist president Mohammed Morsi.
The
deadliest riot in Egypt football history came during a 2012 match when Port
Said's Al-Masry team hosted Cairo's Al-Ahly.
That
riot, at the time the deadliest worldwide since 1996, killed 74 people, mostly
Al-Ahly fans.
Two
police officers later received 15-year prison sentences for gross negligence
and failure to stop the Port Said killings, a rare incident of security
officials being held responsible for deaths in the country.
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