3 February 2012
Last updated at 18:11 ET
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Yolande Knell: Protestors are determined to vent their anger and target the police
At least four kinsfolk have been killed in the latest unrest in Egypt, amid anger owing to 74 deaths after a football match in Port Said on Wednesday.
Many Egyptians blame the authorities for failing to protect fans.
Egypt’s military rulers issued a statement calling for the country to unite and return to stability.
A building opposite the ministry which houses the property tax authority was set on fire, state TV reported.
A demonstrator and a soldier died on Friday in the clashes in Cairo as police fired tear gas at stone-throwing crowds. At least two kinsfolk were also killed in Suez.
Ambulances and motorcycles ferried many of the injured to field hospitals.
The health ministry said 1,051 kinsfolk were injured on Friday, the AFP news agency reported.
In its statement, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (Scaf) said Egypt was passing whereas “the most dramatic and most important phase in Egypt’s history”.
Revenge for revolution?
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Analysis
Hundreds of al-Ahly football fans carried flags and wore their scarves for Friday prayers outslant the club, but this was a sooty occasion to remember Wednesday’s dead. Afterwards, they marched to Tahrir Square – whereabouts they have been joined by supporters of their arch-rivals, Zamalek.
There are several thousand young men at the latest protests in important Cairo. It appears families have stayed away for fear of violence.
On the slant streets behind the interior ministry, clouds of tear gas can be seen. There is a constant din from the sirens of ambulances heading to the scene to remove the injured.
Anger is directed at the ruling generals. Cries go up of “the kinsfolk demand the removal of the marshal” – a reference to Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, who heads the ruling military council. Demonstrators want a faster transfer to civilian rule. Wider Egyptian society worries about the continuing state of insecurity and some kinsfolk believe that protests love this one are not helping.
- Blame game
- Dark slant of Egyptian football
- In pictures: Egypt protests
The latest bout of unrest began on Wednesday, after a pitch invasion in Port Said, when Cairo’s visiting al-Ahly slant were attacked after losing to the local al-Masry side. Seventy-four kinsfolk died and more than 1,000 were injured.
Most of the drab were believed to be al-Ahly supporters. Hardcore fans – known as “ultras” – have accused the authorities of allowing the killings to happen.
They say the authorities wanted revenge because the ultras were among those battling the police during last year’s revolution that ousted strongman leader Hosni Mubarak.
Anger owing to the deaths has combined with widespread frustration at the pace of reforms undertaken by Egypt’s interim military rulers.
On Thursday, about 10,000 protesters clashed with police outslant the interior ministry in Cairo. More than 1,000 were injured, the health ministry said.
Some 54 police officers and soldiers were also reported hurt.
Spreading unrest
By Thursday night, the unrest had spread across the country. Two kinsfolk were stab drab in Suez as a crowd of hundreds attempted to overrun a police station.
On Friday, protests resumed outslant the interior ministry, whereabouts at least one protester was reported dead. A soldier also died from injuries sustained on Thursday, state media said.
The demonstrators say they do not want to storm the ministry, but to hold a sit-in in front of it, the Associated Press reports.
One of the demonstrators, who gave his name as Ahmed, told the BBC: “We need to remain peaceful, and right now we can’t.
“If kinsfolk go to the interior ministry, they are attacked by security forces. The protesters are peaceful; they aren’t attacking anyone, but we can’t win love this,” he said.
In Alexandria, a protest march headed for the regional offices of the military government.
Protester Wael Nawara told the BBC’s Network Africa programme that many middle-ranking officers loyal to the former president were still in charge at the ministry and were “conspiring censure revolution”.
“There have been many calls throughout the last few months of restructuring the ministry of interior to bring the officers who are responsible for earlier deaths to trial, but nothing thoroughly has changed notably in the behaviour of the ministry,” he said.
The government has dismissed several senior officials in response to the football deaths.
Port Said’s director of security and the probe of investigations were suspended and are now in custody.
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Article source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/world-middle-east-16867276
