Court bans football Ultras & labels them "terrorists"

Mada Masr

Court bans Ultras and labels them terrorists

Saturday, May 16, 2015

The Cairo Court for Urgent Affairs issued a verdict on Saturday banning the activities of all hardcore football fan groups known as Ultras across the country and declaring them terrorist organizations.

The verdict, which criminalizes the existence of Ultras groups, stems from a report by Zamalek Club President Mortada Mansour, who also accused them of attempting to kill him and banned them from entering the club.

It is the latest development in a long history of animosity between the state and the Ultras, which has resulted in frequent confrontations between Ultras fans and police forces at football stadiums and escalated following the involvement of Ultras in the 2011 revolution.

Two massacres have occurred during football matches since 2012, which Ultras groups hold security forces responsible for.

In February 2012, clashes between Ahly and Port Said fans following a match in Port Said stadium turned tragic when security forces blocked the exits of the stadium and 72 Ahly fans were killed.

Again in February 2015, around 20 Zamalek fans were killed when the police deployed teargas in the small metal box they were passing through to enter the stadium.

Dalia Abdel Hamid, a social researcher who has studied Ultras groups extensively in recent years, says that the state’s animosity towards the Ultras is based on several factors, including their participation in the revolution and the state’s fear of organized groups.

“They are being punished along with all other factions who took part in the revolution, whether activists, journalists, or civil society, but they have endured the most severe consequences, along with the Muslim Brotherhood as the two groups who have faced real massacres,” she explained.

Since the establishment of the two main groups — Ultras White Knights and Ultras Ahlawy — in 2007, the fan groups have clashed frequently with the authorities.

In 2008, there were confrontations when police forces attempted to ban fans from entering indoor matches. This resulted in clashes outside the stadiums that occurred again when security forces tried to prevent fans from using fireworks and banners during games.

In 2009, a media campaign was started against the fan groups, led by former footballer and talk show host Ahmed Shobeir, who accused them of being drug addicts. This was followed by the mass arrests of ultras members from their houses, according to a report by privately owned Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper.

The Ultras groups used their experience in confrontations with the police during football matches on the front-lines of clashes during the 2011 revolution.

Abdel Hamid says the fact that Ultras groups are well organized and self-funded makes them a threat to the state, despite them not being primarily political groups.

Ultras groups, whose members are in the thousands and are spread across the country, have not yet officially responded to Saturday's ruling.


*Additional reporting by Mostafa Mohie
**Photo courtesy of Ultras White Knights Facebook age

Police tactics result in stampede killing 22 football Ultras

REUTERS
Twenty-two people killed outside Cairo soccer stadium

Ahmed Maher and Mahmoud Mourad

Sun Feb 8, 2015

CAIRO (Reuters) - Twenty-two people were killed outside an Egyptian soccer stadium on Sunday when security forces barred fans from entering, the public prosecutor's office said.

Most of the dead were suffocated when the crowd stampeded after police used tear gas to clear the fans trying to force their way into a league match between two Cairo clubs, Zamalek and Enppi, doctors and witnesses said.

A health ministry spokesman told Reuters by phone the final toll was 19 dead and 20 injured. The reason for the discrepancy in numbers between the health ministry and the public prosecutor's office was not immediately clear.

Soccer matches are often a flashpoint for violence in Egypt where 72 fans were killed at a match in Port Said in February 2012. Since then Egypt has curbed the number of people allowed to attend, and supporters have often tried to storm stadiums they are banned from entering.

Outside the Cairo hospital treating the injured, scores of youths wearing Zamalek T-shirts appeared shocked as families arrived to see if their relatives were safe.

One mother cried and shouted when she found the name of her son on a list of the dead posted by hospital staff.

"I'd told him: leave soccer matches," she said.

Relations between security forces and fan groups known as Ultras have been tense since the 2011 popular uprising that ended the rule of autocrat Hosni Mubarak, in which the Ultras played a key role.

"Huge numbers of Zamalek club fans came to Air Defense Stadium to attend the match ... and tried to storm the stadium gates by force, which prompted the troops to prevent them from continuing the assault," the interior ministry said.

The public prosecution ordered the arrest of the leaders of the Zamalek supporters group, Ultras White Knights, after Sunday's incident, official media reported.

On their Facebook page, the Ultras White Knights described the 22 dead as "martyrs" and accused security forces of a "massacre."

Despite the violence, the match went ahead and ended with a 1-1 draw.

The Egyptian Football Federation said it had reversed an earlier decision to allow fans to return to the stadium by the start of the second half.

 Shortly after the incident, the Cabinet said in a statement that the national league championship would be postponed indefinitely.



*Photo of burning police pickup truck courtesy of Youm 7 Newspaper & photo of angry football fans courtesy of Reuters, respectively. 
 **Additional reporting by Mostafa Hashem, Ali Abdelati and Mohamed Abdellah; Editing by Robin Pomeroy and Eric Walsh