Egyptian PM blames US, Israel for soccer riots

74 people killed during violence at Wednesday soccer match in Port Said

By Asher Zeiger 3 February 2012, 12:03 pm

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Egyptian Prime Minister Mustafa Bakri said on Thursday that a riot in Port Said a day earlier that left 74 soccer fans dead and more than 1,000 injured was part of the continued efforts of the United States and Israel to bring down the Egyptian government.

In an address to the Egyptian parliament broadcast on Egyptian state-run Sawt al-Sha’b TV, Bakri said that the recent unrest is connected to the the violence that swept Egypt last year and eventually brought down former President Hosni Mubarak, according to a video clip translated and posted by the Middle East Media Research Institute. Bakri blamed “America, Israel and the former regime” for what he called the state of anarchy that Egypt is now entering.