Wild attack, locked exits, stampede, police bystanders, dark, thugs and dead bodies… eyewitnesses describe a horrific night at Port-Said Stadium. Crushing Speaking to FilGoal.com, Fathi, a teenage member of the Ultras Ahlawy group explains how he faced death just for supporting his team. “We saw Masri fans running towards our stands, but we did not move to confront them as we are used to that and were sure they would just be insulting, stoning us, or in worst cases they would be targeting us with flamed flares but it is not going to be a brawl,” Fathi, an Ultras Ahlawy member who only agreed to give his first name, said. “But the fans suddenly broke through the police cordon - set up to protect our stands - and ascended towards us without any attempt from security forces to stop them. “Their numbers were nearly double of ours but the disaster was that they were bearing blades and knives; tools that normal football fans would never carry. “We tried to run away and to our shock, the stands exits were locked; we were crammed inside the exit corridor and could not escape. “The gate collapsed as a result of the ensuing stampede but again we found the main stadium gates closed as well.
Security questioned “Military forces were present at the other side of the gates and despite begging them to open they did nothing. “The fans were crushing whomever their bare hands could reach, others died as a result of the stampede.” Lights off! “Suddenly lights were cut off, it was dark everywhere and I kept screaming for quite a while for anyone to get the illumination back, albeit to no avail,” the 15-year-old supporter added. “After a whole 15 minutes lights were finally back, we were before a horrific scene; blood-soaked corpses everywhere prone on the floor. “By time we discovered that wallets and cell phones of the injured and dead were stolen during the incidents, we were not able to identify some of the deceased as a result. “We were victims of negligence; we had to hospitalize the injured as there were no ambulances around.” Thugs
Quoted by other sources, more eyewitnesses gave their view about the disaster, with some implying that it was not just an attack from some angry fans. "The security forces did this or allowed it to happen. The men of Mubarak are still ruling. The head of the regime has fallen but all his men are still in their positions," Albadry Farghali, a member of parliament for Port Said, told live television shortly after the events. Farouk Ibrahim; another fan said: "Unknown groups came between the fans and they were the ones that started the chaos. I was at the match and I saw that the group that did this is not from Port Said.” "They were thugs, like the thugs the National Democratic Party used in elections.” Eyewitness Osama Al-Zayat said: “The rush caused a stampede; people were pushing each other against the metal door and stepping on each other.” "We saw riot police firing shots in the air, and then everyone got scared and kept pushing against the locked door. We didn't know whether police were firing live rounds or not. People were crying and dying.” Finally, Osama Al-Tafahni, a reporter from Port-Said told Reuters: "I saw people holding machetes and knives. Some were hit with these weapons, other victims were flung from their seats, while the invasion happened.”
