CAIRO: Cairo neighborhood Nasr City's prosecutors decided to hold 12 al-Ahly football club fans, arrested for four days under investigation on Thursday. The fans are accused of rioting, cutting roads and vandalizing public property. The 12 men were arrested following post-match clashes with police, which were present to maintain security at the game. Following the game against Kima Aswan club, police attacked the fans and chased them outside the Cairo Stadium after the fans allegedly shouted slurs and anti-Hosni Muabark chants. The police then attacked and beat the fans, who angrily vandalized around 14 cars and briefly cut the Salah Salem road near the stadium. The fans also filed a police report against several officers and accused them of using excessive force against them and said they did not provoke the police in any way. Egypt's ministry of interior said in a statement that the chants and slurs that the fans shouted at the police forces provoked the officers to attack them. After hearing the news of imprisoning their fellow supporters, tens of Ahly fans gathered in front of the High Court in downtown Cairo in protest of the prosecutor's decision. “Don't be silent about a brother's right and go participate in the stand-in,” said the Ahly fan group on its Facebook page. The football club fans announced they would be participating in Friday mass protest against the police. The group that call themselves Ahly Ultras were part of the 18 day protests that toppled ousted president Hosni Muabark's regime last February. BM
