The images that went around the world on February 1, 2012 from the Port Said stadium in northern Egypt are still shocking today: Shortly before the end of the game between the great rivals Al Masry from Port Said and Al Ahly from Cairo, fans of the home team the field and invade the away block, where they attack the opposing supporters with broken bottles and all sorts of objects. The murderous goings-on lasted around 20 minutes and ended in mass panic. The sad result: at least 72 dead, more than a thousand injured. Other reports speak of 74 dead.
It was the blackest day in Egyptian football history. What remained was anger, despair and sadness. Til today. “When I think back on it, the first thing that comes to mind is my friends who died that day. Sometimes I still find it hard to believe that it all really happened,” Ahmed Gaffar told DW. Like the Cairo filmmaker, most of the victims on February 1, 2012 were fans of Al Ahly, Egypt’s most successful club. “I too was in great danger, like all Al-Ahly fans. We were trapped and attacked from all sides,” recalled the 32-year-old.
Security forces hardly intervened
The tragedy was apparently a politically motivated and planned action. Days before the game, local media spoke of a “retribution meeting”. To this day, the exact circumstances surrounding the excess of violence have not been fully clarified. What is certain, however, is that the security forces in the 20,000-seat Port Said stadium were reluctant, if at all, to intervene and allow the disaster to happen. In addition to the Al Masry fans, “of course those who were responsible for the safety of the fans” are to blame for the tragedy, says Ahmed Gaffar.
The ultras of the Al Ahly club were considered the spearheads of the protests that led to the fall of the autocratic President Hosni Mubarak in 2011. During the week-long opposition rallies on Tahrir Square in Cairo, they took a protective stand in front of the demonstrators and sometimes engaged in street battles with the security forces.
According to an investigation, organized thugs from the ranks of Mubarak loyalists attacked Al-Ahly supporters in Port Said. There are said to have been agreements to turn off the floodlights during the escalation. Eyewitnesses also reported that the doors in the corridors leading out of the guest block were locked. The corridors became a deadly trap during the stampede.
“Like War”
Other eyewitnesses said Al Masry fans were free to bring batons, knives, swords and even firearms past security into the stadium before the game. Some Al Ahly players were also injured in the riots. “It was like war,” said Emad Moteab in a 2017 interview with the “Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung”. The Al-Ahly professional recalled that he already had “a bad feeling” when he arrived: “We had heard from several people that there could be unrest in the stadium. But of course nobody thought it would be that bad would.”
The security forces in the stadium hardly intervened
In the days that followed there were violent clashes across the country, in which several people lost their lives. Opposition figures have accused the military council, which has been in power since Mubarak’s fall, of having caused the catastrophe. Those in power “staged chaos” in order to make the Egyptians “tired of revolution,” said German-Egyptian political scientist Hamed Abdel-Samad in an interview a few days after the bloodbath in Port Said.
death sentences and imprisonment
A year later, in February 2012, an investigative report said the fans and security forces at the stadium were to blame for the disaster, not the military council. A trial against 73 defendants ended in January 2013 with 21 death sentences and numerous prison terms. Eleven death sentences were confirmed in April 2015. The penalties are politically motivated, the accused condemned as scapegoats, the real culprits are still at large, it was said in many places. The process did not put an end to the victims’ families. “I know relatives who have not yet come to terms with the pain. For them, every day is February 1, 2012. Over and over again,” says Ahmed Gaffar.
Football in Egypt initially stood still. After the bloodbath in Port Said, the Al Masry club was banned from playing for two years and the stadium was closed for three years. Emad Moteab and other football professionals declared their careers over “out of respect for the killed fans” – Moteab later reversed the decision. The Egyptian league only resumed play a year and a day after the disaster: with a game by Al Ahly, under massive security measures, without spectators. “We will never forget you,” read the shirt worn by Al Ahly’s winning goalscorer Dominique da Silva under his shirt.
Africa Cup enthusiasm instead of commemoration
But even ten years after the catastrophe, there is still no talk of normality in Egyptian football. “Until recently, the fans were excluded. For some time now, a few thousand fans have been allowed into the stadium again for league games,” says Ahmed Gaffar.
The focus of the Egyptian public these days is less on the commemoration of the bloodbath of 2012 than on the current success of the national team at the Africa Cup: The team around superstar Mohamed Salah is in the semi-finals and meets hosts Cameroon. Record winner Egypt dreams of eighth title.
Egyptian fans during the Africa Cup of 16 Round of 16 match between Egypt and South Africa
“Once a year, on the anniversary of the disaster, the victims are commemorated. That’s all,” says Ahmed Gaffar. “On the day after, the national team will be interested again.”
Cairo club Al Ahly have celebrated six league titles and four African Champions League triumphs since the darkest day in Egyptian football history. For fans like Ahmed Gaffar, these successes cannot make the tragedy of Port Said forget: “For me and many others, along with 72 people, football and the passion for it died on that day.”