PORT SAID - Egypt has begun three days of mourning for the victims of the worst soccer violence in the nation's history.
Riots began when fans invaded the pitch after a football match involving top Cairo club al-Ahly and the Port Said side al-Masry leaving 104 dead.
The people of Port Said are reeling after the spasm of violence tore through this coastal town and many are blaming the military government for failing to maintain security.
Few could believe their local football fans, rowdy as they have been in the past, would ever do anything this deadly. Many saw a sinister hand behind the rioting.
Currency trader Ahmad Hosni talking to the VOA said he believes it was planned by the army and the police. Standing outside closed shops on a largely deserted street, he asks “how many matches have taken place and nothing like this happened? They want to mess up the country.”
Nearby, driver Mamdouh Hassan questions how fans managed to get weapons into the stadium in the first place. He says no one was searched, and they brought in batons and knives. Hassan believes “something else” is behind the violence.
Protesters, some carrying batons themselves Thursday, converged on the town's main government building. They too blamed the army, the police and “the old regime” of deliberately allowing the violence to get out of control.
Video of the match, watched by millions live and millions more in constant repeats, show police standing still as fans surged onto the field.
People in Port Said hurled accusations of deliberate negligence by officials to make a case for continued military rule. They sought - and got - the local governor's resignation.
Parliament joined human rights groups in demanding an investigation. The government also announced it has suspended the heads of Port Said's security and police investigations.
In Cairo, people gathered in the streets around Tahrir Square, the focal point of last year's protests which led to the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak.
Demonstrators, many of them al-Ahly supporters known as Ultras, used metal barriers and vehicles to close the square.
Thousands then marched to the interior ministry, some 500m (547 yards) away. Some chanted slogans against Egypt's military rulers, while others threw stones.
Police responded with tear gas, causing hundreds to run away.
Riots began when fans invaded the pitch after a football match involving top Cairo club al-Ahly and the Port Said side al-Masry leaving 104 dead.
The people of Port Said are reeling after the spasm of violence tore through this coastal town and many are blaming the military government for failing to maintain security.
Few could believe their local football fans, rowdy as they have been in the past, would ever do anything this deadly. Many saw a sinister hand behind the rioting.
Currency trader Ahmad Hosni talking to the VOA said he believes it was planned by the army and the police. Standing outside closed shops on a largely deserted street, he asks “how many matches have taken place and nothing like this happened? They want to mess up the country.”
Nearby, driver Mamdouh Hassan questions how fans managed to get weapons into the stadium in the first place. He says no one was searched, and they brought in batons and knives. Hassan believes “something else” is behind the violence.
Protesters, some carrying batons themselves Thursday, converged on the town's main government building. They too blamed the army, the police and “the old regime” of deliberately allowing the violence to get out of control.
Video of the match, watched by millions live and millions more in constant repeats, show police standing still as fans surged onto the field.
Parliament joined human rights groups in demanding an investigation. The government also announced it has suspended the heads of Port Said's security and police investigations.
In Cairo, people gathered in the streets around Tahrir Square, the focal point of last year's protests which led to the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak.
Demonstrators, many of them al-Ahly supporters known as Ultras, used metal barriers and vehicles to close the square.
Thousands then marched to the interior ministry, some 500m (547 yards) away. Some chanted slogans against Egypt's military rulers, while others threw stones.
Police responded with tear gas, causing hundreds to run away.
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