On the first day of the proceedings, the Port Said trial was adjourned to May, reports Ahmed Morsy Despite the hot sunny weather, hundreds of protesters gathered early Tuesday morning amid strict security measures outside the courthouse to follow the first session of the trial of 75 defendants implicated in the death of 74 football fans in Port Said in February. The trial, held in the same Cairo courtroom as the trial for former president Hosni Mubarak, was adjourned in the afternoon by the judges overseeing the case until 5 May when testimonies of eyewitnesses will be heard. The trial's first session was twice adjourned when defendants, who denied any role in the tragedy, began yelling from inside their cage, shouting "One, two... where is Hosni Mubarak?" in reference to the prevalent allegation that the ousted president's regime was behind the disaster and that the defendants were being used as scapegoats. Half an hour later, the session was resumed when order was restored. Those in the audience were mostly supporters of Cairo club Ahli, who made up most of those who died, and members of the families of those killed. Following the first resumption, Ragaai Atteya, the victims' lawyer, read out the names of those who died in Port Said stadium, while the defendants began to recite the fateha (opening verse of the Quran) to bless the souls of the victims. Another lawyer for the victims asked the court press charges against the Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim and the head of Port Said's Masri football club Kamel Abu Ali. He also demanded charges be brought against Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, Egypt's ruling military leader, since, the lawyer said, Tantawi was running the country at the time of the onslaught. The criminal court decided last week to move the trial proceedings to the Cairo Police Academy and not the Suez Canal zone for security reasons after it was scheduled to be held in Port Said. One defence lawyer called for the trial to be moved to Port Said, or at least out of Cairo, in the name of fairness. However, judge Emil Habashi, head of the Port Said Criminal Court, rejected the demand. During the session, the accused began to plead not guilty. Some yelled Allah Akbar (God is the greatest), denying the charges of premeditated murder and possession of weapons. Amid chaotic scenes aired live on television, defendants dressed in white climbed on benches inside the cage, pointing to security officials on trial in the same case and blaming them for the violence. Last month, the Prosecutor-General Abdel-Meguid Mahmoud issued a statement demanding the referral of the 75 defendants to a criminal court for their alleged roles in the massacre, saying that the defendants included the former Port Said security chief, Essam Samak, eight police officers and three Port Said team officials. Port Said fans face murder charges while the officers were accused of complicity in murder in Egypt's worst football-related violence. At some stage in the afternoon, the session was adjourned again when the defendants began chanting "We either die like them [the victims], or bring them justice", the same slogan used by Ultras Ahlawi (UA), Ahli's hardcore fans whose number of dead were the majority in the massacre which followed the Port Said-based club Masri's unexpected 3-1 victory over Ahli in the Egyptian domestic league on 1 February. The chants of the defendants led to sobs in court by relatives of those who died, some holding pictures of their dead loved ones. At the same time, a crowd of mostly Ultras supporters of Ahli and, surprisingly, Ahli's arch- rival Zamalek, stood outside the court waving club flags demanding justice and speedy retribution for the dead. They wore black shirts with the words: "When I stop cheering, I will surely be dead", a motto of the UA. Moreover, they chanted against the military, in power since the fall of the regime of Mubarak, in front of thousands of Central Security Forces who were safeguarding the court to prevent potential violence. Army tanks were also deployed. A comprehensive plan to secure the court was drawn up in cooperation with the Armed Forces, according to Mohsen Murad, assistant to the ministry's Cairo security sector. Since dawn, strict security procedures were applied and a security cordon was formed around all entrances to the academy. "We merely demand the justice of God," Ahmed Khater, a 55-year-old father of one of those who was killed, told Al-Ahram Weekly while surrounded by shields of Ultras members for protection. In a statement on their Facebook page on Monday, UA urged their members not to respond to "provocations" at the trial and to protect the families of the victims outside the court. Throughout 2011, the year of the country's revolution, the Ultras' out-of-stadium appearances were a hallmark, featuring in the frequent confrontations with security forces after taking part in protests -- though not all -- whether they were in Tahrir Square or other liberation sites. After the 25 January Revolution, they began to belt out political chants insulting the police forces and recently chanted obscenities at the military police. "Any sentence will not be acceptable except the death penalty," one UA member told the Weekly outside the court. "We demand swift retribution for our dead brothers," he added before rushing to join his friends chanting against the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF). They chanted "Tantawi, you tell Anan [SCAF's number two Sami Anan], the Ultras will be present on 20 April in Tahrir", threatening a new revolution to fully rid the country of the ousted regime.
