At least 73 people have been killed in clashes between rival fans following a football match in the Egyptian city of Port Said, state television reports.
The deaths occurred as supporters invaded the pitch after a match between top-tier clubs Masry and al-Ahly on Wednesday.
It is feared the death toll could rise as about 156 people have been hurt.
It is the biggest disaster in the country's football history, said the Egyptian deputy health minister.
More at the link.
The security had been lax not to provoke any riots - which meant that when they broke out there were none to stop them.
A lot of people are saying they think security was deliberately lax precisely in hopes a riot would take place between teams with a big known rivalry, as part of the military governments effort to justify keeping emergency laws and powers in place. That’s only speculation for the moment, but everyone has good reason to suspect the worst out of the military rulers right now. Mubarak basically attempted the same thing during his final days by ordering all the police to stop going after everyday crime for several days in hopes of scaring everyone.
"This cult of special forces is as sensible as to form a Royal Corps of Tree Climbers and say that no soldier who does not wear its green hat with a bunch of oak leaves stuck in it should be expected to climb a tree"
— Field Marshal William Slim 1956
No most were beaten to death with blows to the head from heavy objects.
400+ people were injured today in massive riots against the interior ministry over this
"This cult of special forces is as sensible as to form a Royal Corps of Tree Climbers and say that no soldier who does not wear its green hat with a bunch of oak leaves stuck in it should be expected to climb a tree"
— Field Marshal William Slim 1956
how did that many heavy objects get inside the stadium?
bbc:
"They said to us, we have brought your funeral shrouds with us. And then we were attacked horribly," another al-Ahly fan, Mohamed Saeed Mohamed Ali told Reuters.
"We went to the tunnel and the doors were shut with chains, that was the first thing, and the lights were shut off. They were firing rubber bullets... There was a young man named Islam, 17 years old, who was standing next to me and then suddenly he was lying with a skewer in his head, and his eye was blown out of the other side of his head."
"Aid, trade, green technology and peace." - Hans Rosling.
"Welcome to SDN, where we can't see the forest because walking into trees repeatedly feels good, bro." - Mr Coffee
The government claims security was deliberately scaled back beforehand to try to avoid provoking a fight with police, so likely not many searches of people entering took place, and lots of the peopled died in the streets outside anyway. Its not unlikely this was deliberately arranged by someone; its just a question if the government conspiracy theory is true, or it was something else. The number of dead and injured from the football riot is now being given as 74 dead and about 1,000 injured. Several more people died today in another wave of mass protest and rioting in Cairo focused on the interior ministry.
"This cult of special forces is as sensible as to form a Royal Corps of Tree Climbers and say that no soldier who does not wear its green hat with a bunch of oak leaves stuck in it should be expected to climb a tree"
— Field Marshal William Slim 1956
