Egyptian protesters killed in unrest over deadly football riot
Protesters stand in clouds of tear gas fired by security forces in Cairo, Egypt on Feb. 2. They were protesting at the handling of a football riot in Port Said that left 74 dead.
At least two people have been shot dead in the north-eastern Egyptian city of Suez, where police clashed with protesters angered by the security forces' handling of a deadly riot at a football stadium on Wednesday.
Reuters is reporting that police used live rounds to push back crowds demanding justice for the 74 people killed following a match between rival teams al-Masry and al-Ahly in Port Said. Funerals for many of the victims had taken place earlier that day.
"We received two corpses of protesters shot dead by live ammunition," a doctor at the morgue where the bodies were kept reportedly told the news agency.
The New York Times says there are unconfirmed reports that a third man died early on Friday.
Meanwhile, Al-Jazeera reports that at least 668 people were injured in the capital Cairo when police fired teargas on another demonstration in Tahrir Square. The television station’s reporter at the scene says the injured had to be carried away from the scene on the backs of motorbikes. Most of them were suffering from tear gas inhalation as well as bruises and broken bones from rocks. Reuters said one person died from a shotgun pellet wound.
Some of the protesters attempted to bring down barricades erected around the Interior Ministry during violent clashes last November, prompting the Ministry to issue a statement urging calm.
Meanwhile, a group of Al-Ahly supporters calling themselves the Ultras told the BBC they believe police deliberately allowed al-Masry fans to attack them because of their role in the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak last year.
"It's like war, you can't believe it. What happened yesterday [Wednesday] was war, it's not football. To kill without any feeling… is not normal," the former al-Ahly player, Hani Seddik, said.
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