CAIRO: Some 16 Egyptian rights NGOs issued a joint statement on Sunday holding the military ruling council responsible for the violent clashes that killed 75 people at a football match last Wednesday in the city of Port Said, east of Cairo. They said the military council, represented by Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, are in collusion with what had happened and are continuing to commit “crimes against humanity.” The Ahly vs Masry match ended with the latter winning 3-1, yet once the match ended Masry fans crossed the gates into the field and attacked the players and the fans of al-Ahly. No police presence or medics were there, which led to the death of many who were in critical condition. The NGOs condemned the government and the ministry of interior for their failure to provide effective security during and after the match. Eyewitnesses at the game reported that police in charge of securing the stadium and the crowd were in fact the ones who opened the gates to allow the Masry “fans” and then fled the scene. The organizations also criticized Tantawi's statement regarding the ongoing violence after the SCAF chief said that a “group of people committed these crimes and Egyptians know them” and then he expressed his surprise on why “Egyptians are letting them go unpunished,” alluding to the fact that they are the fans of the al-Masry club in Port Said. The groups said the statements are “an incitement to civil war.” They also blamed the authorities for allowing the game to be played with the presence of the fans, as many threats of violence had been published previously on social networking websites. The statement was signed by the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI), Hisham Mubarak Law Center, The Egyptian Center for Social and Economic Rights and the New Woman Foundation, among others. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/VVc3A Tags: Crimes, featured, NGO, SCAF Section: Egypt, Human Rights, Latest News
