Egyptian fans clash with riot police following Al-Ahly club soccer match against Al-Masry club at the soccer stadium in Port Said, Egypt. Picture: AP Source: The Daily Telegraph
AN Egyptian parliamentary inquiry has blamed police negligence for a soccer riot that killed more than 70 fans.
The preliminary report said police at the stadium in the Mediterranean city of Port Said downplayed the potential for riots, even as fans sensing impending violence left the stadium, the official Al-Ahram newspaper said today.
"The parliamentary fact finding committee ... placed most of the political responsibility on the security apparatus," Al-Ahram reported.
Police and security at the stadium's entrances also failed to search fans for weapons and allowed people to enter without tickets, resulting in a crowd of almost 17,000 people, the report said.
The 74 stadium deaths - the deadliest football violence in the country's history - sparked days of violent protests outside the interior ministry's headquarters in Cairo, in which another 16 people were killed.
Many of the dead in the February 2 riot were thought to have been Al-Ahly supporters, set upon by partisans of the local Al-Masry side after the Cairo team lost 3-1.
Soccer supporters known as the Ultras - mainly fans of Al-Ahly and another club in Cairo - played a prominent role in the uprising that overthrew president Hosni Mubarak a year ago. Commentators have fed speculation that pro-Mubarak forces were behind the massacre, or at least complicit.
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