Egypt's army, police blamed for deadly soccer riot

CAIRO (AP) — Scores of Egyptian soccer fans were crushed to death while others were fatally stabbed or suffocated after being trapped in a long narrow corridor trying to flee rival fans armed with knives, clubs and stones, in the country's worst ever soccer violence that killed at least 74 people, witnesses and health officials said Thursday.

Egyptian fans clash with riot police following Al-Ahly club soccer match against Al-Masry club at the soccer stadium in Port Said, Egypt Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2012. Some dozens of Egyptian soccer fans were killed Wednesday in violence following a soccer match in Port Said, when fans flooded the field seconds after a match against a rival team was over, Egypt's Health ministry said. (AP Photo)

The tragedy Wednesday evening — which followed an Egyptian league match between Al-Masry, the home team in the Mediterranean city of Port Said, and Al-Ahly, based in Cairo and one of Egypt's most popular teams — was a bloody reminder of deteriorating security in the Arab world's most populous country, as instability continues nearly a year after former President Hosni Mubarak was swept out of power in a popular uprising.

It was also the deadliest soccer violence worldwide since 1996. One player said it was "like a war."

Egyptian activists have accused the police and military of failing to intervene to stop the mayhem.

On Thursday morning, dozens of angry protesters sealed off Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the uprising that toppled Mubarak, while others blocked the street in front of the state TV building in downtown Cairo ahead of planned marches later in the day to the Interior Ministry to denounce the police force.

The melee at the stadium in Port Said erupted when Al-Masry fans stormed the field following a rare 3-1 win against Al-Ahly. Al-Masry supporters, armed with knives, sticks and stones, chased players and fans from the rival team, Al-Ahly, who ran toward the exits and up the stands to escape, according to witnesses.

Ahmed Ghaffar, one of the visiting Al Ahly fans at the stadium, said "layers of people" were stuck, "suffocating inside a narrow corridor" as they tried to get out of the stadium

"The people were stuck over each other because there was no other exist," Ghaffar tweeted on Thursday. "We were between two choices, either death coming from behind us, or the closed doors."

Ghaffar said that seconds after the match ended, Al-Masry fans rushed onto the pitch from all sides while the police stood by motionless. A power outage followed, he said, and "the soccer field fell into darkness."

"We were surprised the the police let them in that easy. The numbers were huge," he said.

As many Al-Ahly fans crowded into the corridor leading out of the stadium, they were trapped, with the doors at the other end locked.

Ghaffar said Al-Masry fans beat those Al-Ahly fans who fell on the floor and also described several stampedes.

Al-Masry fan, Mohammed Mosleh, posted his account on Facebook, saying he saw "thugs with weapons" on his side in the stadium where police presence was meager.

"This was unbelievable," he said. "We were supposed to be celebrating, not killing people. We defeated Al-Ahly, something I saw twice only in my lifetime. All the people were happy. Nobody expected this."

Health ministry official Hisham Sheha said deaths were caused by stabs by sharp tools, brain hemorrhage and concussions. "All those carried to hospitals were already dead bodies," Sheha told state-TV.

One man told state TV he heard gunshots in the stadium, while a lawmaker from Egypt's powerful Muslim Brotherhood said the police didn't prevent fans carrying knives from entering the stadium.

TV footage showed Al-Ahly players rushing for their locker room as fistfights broke out among the hundreds of fans swarming on to the field. Some men had to rescue a manager from the losing team as he was being beaten. Black-clothed police officers stood by, appearing overwhelmed.

The Interior Ministry said 74 people died, including one police officer, and 248 were injured, 14 of them police. A local health official initially said 1,000 people were injured and it was not clear how severely. Security forces arrested 47 people for involvement in the violence, the statement said.

State TV appealed to Egyptians to donate blood for the injured in Port Said, and the military sent two aircraft to evacuate serious cases to the capital, Cairo.

A number of political parties called on the Egyptian parliament to pass no-confidence vote against the government of Kamal el-Ganzouri, a Mubarak-era politician appointed by the much-critized ruling military council. El-Ganzouri himself held an emergency cabinet meeting early Thursday.

Essam el-Erian, a Brotherhood lawmaker, said the military and police were complicit in the violence, accusing them of trying to show that emergency regulations giving security forces wide-ranging powers must be maintained.

"This tragedy is a result of intentional reluctance by the military and the police," he said.

The trigger for the violence, however, remains a mystery since most of the attackers were from the winning team.

April 6 group, which was among youth groups that led the anti-Mubarak uprising, accused the ruling military of collaboration in the violence.

"Is it logical that the force that managed to secure parliamentary elections in nine provinces can't secure a soccer match where skirmishes among fans were expected," the group said in a statement Thursday.

The organized soccer fans known as Ultras have playing an important role in the anti-Mubarak uprising and rallies against the military rule. Their anti-police songs, peppered with curses, have quickly become viral and an expression of the hatred many Egyptians feel toward security forces that were accused of much of the abuse that was widespread under Mubarak's regime.

In the eyes of political activists, the long enmity between Ultras and much-hated security forces under Mubarak and under the military rule explains why the police stepped aside in the face of deadly brawl.

In a statement signed by Ultras of Al-Ahly, the group said Thursday that the military council and former members of Mubarak's regime were retaliating for the Ultras role in the revolution.

"They want to punish us and execute us for our participation in the revolution against suppression," it said, and vowed a "new war in defense of our revolution."

Source: The Associated Press

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Yesterday Video & Photos from #OccupyDenver riots - Tanner Spendley Photography

- At 7:30pm, Denver Riot Police begin to move in and request the remaining protesters clear Civic Center Park. The protesters remind officers that they have until 11pm to be there and hold their ground. 

- Protesters chant a reminder that they are non-violent and request that the DPD remain non-violent as well. Continue to hold their ground as garbage trucks roll off with the remnants of the camp. 

- Protester states that ‘You can not kill an idea” 

- Police vacated the park area around 8pm. 

- 9:15 pm , 3 Night shift police officers stop by to state “They are there to keep the camp safe”. All state they were not part of the earlier action by riot police. Reiterate that the park has to be vacated by 11pm but the sidewalks are good at all times..

Original: http://www.tannerspendley.com/occupydenver

Source: AnonOps

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Rioters hijack Rome protests, police fire tear gas

ROME (AP) — Italian riot police fired tear gas and water cannons in Rome on Saturday as violent protesters hijacked a peaceful demonstration against corporate greed, smashing bank windows, torching cars and hurling bottles.

Elsewhere, hundreds of thousands nicknamed "the indignant" marched without incident in cities across Europe, as the "Occupy Wall Street" protests linked up with long-running demonstrations against European governments' austerity measures.

Protesters hurl objects at police in Rome, Saturday, Oct. 15, 2011. Protesters in Rome smashed shop windows and torched cars as violence broke out during a demonstration in the Italian capital, part of worldwide protests against corporate greed and austerity measures. The "Occupy Wall Street" protests, that began in Canada and spread to cities across the U.S., moved Saturday to Asia and Europe, linking up with anti-austerity demonstrations that have raged across the debt-ridden continent for months. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Heavy smoke billowed in downtown Rome as a small group broke away and wreaked havoc in streets close to the Colosseum and elsewhere in the city.

Clad in black with their faces covered, protesters threw rocks, bottles and incendiary devices at banks and Rome police in riot gear. With clubs and hammers, they destroyed bank ATMs, set trash bins on fire and assaulted at least two news crews from Sky Italia.

Riot police charged the protesters repeatedly, firing water cannons and tear gas. Around 70 people were injured, according to news reports, including one man who tried to stop the protesters from throwing bottles.

TV footage showed one young woman with blood covering her face, while the ANSA news agency said a man had lost two fingers when a firecracker exploded.

In the city's St. John in Lateran square, police vans came under attack, with protesters hurling rocks and cobblestones and smashing the vehicles. Fleeing the violence, peaceful protesters stormed up the steps outside the Basilica, one of the oldest in Rome.

"People of Europe: Rise Up!" read one banner in Rome. Some activists turned against the violent group, trying to stop them and shouting "Enough!" and "Shame!"

Rome Mayor Gianni Alemanno blamed the violence on "a few thousand thugs from all over Italy, and possibly from all over Europe, who infiltrated the demonstration." Some Rome museums were forced to close down and at least one theater canceled a show.

Protesters also set fire to a building, causing the roof to collapse, reports said. The Defense Ministry denied reports it was one of its offices.

Premier Silvio Berlusconi called the violence a "worrying signal," and added that the perpetrators "must be found and punished."

Berlusconi barely survived a confidence vote Friday, with many questioning his leadership. Italy's debt burden is second only to Greece in the 17-nation eurozone and the country is rapidly becoming a focus of concern in Europe's debt crisis.

ANSA said four people from an anarchist group were arrested Saturday with helmets, anti-gas masks, clubs and hundreds of bottles in their car.

Elsewhere, bright autumn sunshine and a social media campaign brought out thousands across Europe.

In Spain, the Indignant Movement that began around-the-clock "occupation" protest camps in May which lasted for weeks held evening marches Saturday that converged on Madrid's Puerta del Sol plaza.

"There is a huge crowd here," said Elsa Varona, whose choir sang an excerpt from Giuseppe Verdi's Nabucco overture as the marchers arrived. Organizers said 300,000 people took part, but police did not offer an estimate.

Other Spanish cities including Barcelona, Seville, Valencia and Malaga hosted similarly well-attended gatherings."

Portuguese protesters angry at their government's handling of the economic crisis pushed against police lines in Lisbon, but officers stopped them from storming parliament. Portugal is one of three European nations — along with Greece and Ireland — that has had to accept an international bailout.

In Frankfurt, continental Europe's financial hub, 5,000 people protested at the European Central Bank, with some setting up a tent camp in front of the ECB building.

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange spoke to protesters outside St. Paul's Cathedral in London, calling the international banking system a "recipient of corrupt money."

The London demonstration swelled to several thousand people by early evening, and police said three were arrested. While protesters erected tents and gathered blankets, food and water to settle down for the evening, police urged them to leave, saying cathedral staff needed to prepare for Sunday services.

In Paris, marchers shook their fists and shouted as they passed the city's historic stock exchange, before congregating by the hundreds outside the ornate City Hall.

"Stand up Paris! Rise Up!" protesters shouted. "Sharing will save the world!"

The Greek capital of Athens has seen near-daily strikes and protests as the government fights to avoid bankruptcy, and Saturday was no different. Some 2,000 rallied outside parliament against a new austerity package being voted upon on Thursday, while teachers and civil servants held marches elsewhere in the city. In Thessaloniki, Greece's second city, 3,000 took part in a peaceful protest.

Several hundreds more marched in the German cities of Berlin, Cologne and Munich and the Austrian capital of Vienna, while protesters in Zurich, Switzerland's financial hub, carried banners reading "We won't bail you out yet again" and "We are the 99 percent."

That referred to the world's richest one percent, who control billions in assets while billions of others are struggling to make ends meet.

In Brussels, thousands of marched through the downtown chanting "Criminal bankers caused this crisis!" and pelted the stock exchange building with old shoes.

Protesters also accused NATO, which has its headquarters in Brussels, of wasting taxpayer money on the wars in Libya and Afghanistan, saying that one European soldier deployed to Afghanistan costs the equivalent of 11 high school teachers.

Some 300 activists rallied in Helsinki with homemade signs and stalls full of art and food.

Across the Atlantic, hundreds protested near the Toronto Stock Exchange and the headquarters of major Canadian banks to decry what they called government-abetted corporate greed. Protests were also being held in Montreal, Vancouver, Halifax and Winnipeg.

In New York, hundreds marched on a Chase bank to protest the role banks played in the financial crisis, and demonstrations culminated in an "Occupation Party" in Times Square.

In South Africa, about 50 activists rallied outside the Johannesburg Stock Exchange to demand more jobs, free education and universal healthcare.

Support for the anti-capitalist protest movement was light in Asia, where the global economy is booming. About 300 people turned out in Sydney, while another 200 chanted anti-nuclear slogans outside the Tokyo Electric Power Co., which operates the tsunami-hit Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant. In the Philippines, 100 people marched on the U.S. Embassy in Manila.

Source: 
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Police fire tear gas as protesters riot in Rome

ROME (AP) — Italian police fired tear gas and water cannons as protesters in Rome turned a demonstration against corporate greed into a riot Saturday, smashing shop and bank windows, torching cars and hurling bottles.

The protest in the Italian capital was part of "Occupy Wall Street" demonstrations against capitalism and austerity measures that went global Saturday, leading to dozens of marches and protests worldwide.

Protesters hurl objects at police in Rome, Saturday, Oct. 15, 2011. Protesters in Rome smashed shop windows and torched cars as violence broke out during a demonstration in the Italian capital, part of worldwide protests against corporate greed and austerity measures. The "Occupy Wall Street" protests, that began in Canada and spread to cities across the U.S., moved Saturday to Asia and Europe, linking up with anti-austerity demonstrations that have raged across the debt-ridden continent for months. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Black smoke billowed into the air in downtown Rome as a small group broke away from the main demonstration and wreaked havoc in streets closed to the Colosseum.

Protesters clad in black with their faces covered threw rocks, bottles and other objects at police in riot gear. Some had held clubs, others had hammers. They threw an incendiary devices and firecrackers at banks, destroyed bank ATMs and set trash bins on fire, news reports said.

Two news crews from Sky Italia were assaulted.

TV footage showed police in riot gear charging the protesters and firing water cannons at them.

The ANSA news agency said some protesters trashed offices of the Defense Ministry and of a labor agency, smashing windows with clubs and setting cars on fire.

Police were out in force as up to 100,000 protesters were expected a day after Premier Silvio Berlusconi barely survived a confidence vote in Parliament. Italy is rapidly becoming a focus of concern in Europe's debt crisis.

"People of Europe: Rise Up!" read a banner in Rome. Some peaceful demonstrators turned against the violent group and tried to stop them, hurling bottles, Sky Italia and ANSA said. Others fled, scared by the violence.

At least one man was injured as he tried to stop some protesters from hurling bottles.

Anarchist groups have often infiltrated demonstrations in Italy in the past. ANSA said four people from an anarchist group were arrested Saturday morning before the demonstration, with police seizing helmets, anti-gas masks, clubs and hundreds of bottles in their car.

Source:

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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