More Crimes, No Punishment in Egypt

Egyptian football fans demonstrate at Sphinx Square in Cairo, Egypt, Feb. 2, 2012. The death toll of a football match riot in Egypt's Port Said rose to 74 with hundreds of others injured, state media reported on Wednesday night. (Photo: Xinhua)

For a full year, starting with the fall of Egypt’s ex-dictator Mubarak on 11 February 2011, the ruling power in Egypt – the Military Council – has committed more crimes than reasonable for the Egyptian Revolution. It has been very clear to every humble mind observer that Mubarak and the Military Council are two faces of the same corrupted coin.

The reasons are too clear to be mentioned, but the most recent crime that was set yesterday, February 1st, is the most brutal in the history of the crimes occuring during the past 12 months, with no justice judgment or final punishment.

I was among millions who were watching the match between the two Egyptian football teams Al-Ahly and Al-Masri, played in the North Egyptian Mediterranean city of Port Said. For more than 2 hours, before the ending whistle, we expected more than once that the referee would stop or cancel the match as there were pistols shooting fireworks towards the visiting team of Al-Ahly, the team that had travelled from the Egyptian capital, Cairo. Even the linesman presented the thrown stones to show another reason why the referee should cancel the match, but the latter neglected all warnings, and gave a red card to the visiting team captain, Hosam Ghali, for expressing objection to what was happening.

Although the final score results were in favor of the local team, we strangely witnessed thousands of the winning team’s fans leaving their places with no attempt from the police to stop them, carrying all types of white weapons and stones, to crush into the places of Al-Ahly’s fans, whom were locked in with no way out of the massacre. Seventy six among them died in these clashes and almost 1000 were injured.

All comments agreed that this incident was not because of the football match, or a sign raised to insult the locals, but because the youth killed were members of the Ultras of Al-Ahly fans, who were among the front lines of the Egyptian Revolution.
With the ex-dictator free to enjoy the daily trip to some comic trial with no punishment in the near future, his wife, Suzan, celebrating selling her memoirs to an English publishing house for millions of pounds, his sons continuing their deals of business, his ministers plotting to fight back, and with all these crimes happening under the patronage of the ruling Military Council, we can expect more crime and more blood to be spread on the face of Egypt’s map.

It seems clear that the Military Council is giving the Egyptians two options; either to go back to square one with another dictator chosen from the tribe of gangs, or to continue the disorder plan that gives birth to bloody tragedies on a daily basis.

As I am writing, hundreds of demonstrators are gathering in front of the Ministry of Interior, and nearby, thousands of them are flooding to Tahrir Square as tomorrow marks a year since the Battle of Camel, when the old regime sent troops riding camels and horses to kill the revolutionary seeds before they started to spout.

It seems that even after a full year, we still have to expect more battles against the peaceful people who just seek freedom and justice. And as long as we continue to face more criminals without punishment, it is early to be celebrating the first birthday of the Egyptian Revolution.