One dead, 18 injured in renewed Egyptian soccer violence

Al-Masry fans battle security forces after soccer authority suspends the club for February’s deadly riot

By Ilan Ben Zion 24 March 2012, 5:33 am

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Ilan Ben Zion is an AFP reporter and a former news editor at The Times of Israel.

Egyptian fans clash with riot police following a soccer game at the stadium in Port Said in February (photo credit: AP)

Al-Masry soccer fans clashed with police in Port Said on Friday night, leaving one dead and 18 injured, after the Egyptian Football Association suspended their team for two years.

“One was shot dead, in the back, and 18 were injured in the clashes, two of them are suffering gunshot wounds,” a medical source told Al-Jazeera.

The country’s soccer governing body banned the al-Masry soccer club until the end of the 2013 season for the deadly riot in February that left 74 people dead after an al-Masry victory over Cairo’s Al Ahli.

The EFA also ruled that al-Masry’s Port Said Stadium, the site of the soccer massacre, would be closed for three years.

Last week, Egypt’s top prosecutor charged 75 people — including nine police officers — with murder and negligence in connection with the February soccer massacre.