CAIRO: The People’s Assembly (PA) held the interior minister responsible for what they described as the “Port Said massacre” and ordered the inclusion of the case to the fact finding committee of the January 25 Revolution’s martyrs and injured.
PA Speaker Saad El-Katatny announced the recommendations at the end of an emergency session held on Thursday, in which several MPs laid the blame squarely on the ruling military council, calling for a swift transfer of power via holding presidential elections.
Following a league match between Al-Masry, the home team in the Mediterranean city of Port Said, and Al-Ahly, scores of football fans were crushed to death while others were fatally stabbed or suffocated after being trapped in a long narrow corridor trying to flee rival fans armed with knives, clubs and stones.
In the country’s worst ever football violence, 74 were killed and hundreds imjured.
The melee was the worst case of football violence in Egypt and the deadliest worldwide since 1996. One player said it was "like a war."
The fact-finding committee is to go to Port Said to investigate the events of the match and will present its findings to the PA within a week.
Prime Minster Kamal El-Ganzoury addressed the PA saying he hasn’t changed his clothes since the day before, asserting that he was immersed in the crisis.
He listed the actions taken by cabinet which include, accepting the resignation of the governor of Port Said, suspending the province’s head of security and the head of investigations. The Egyptian Football Federation will also be suspended and its members interrogated.
MP Mohamed El Sawi, was outraged by what he called “El Ganzoury’s pity towards us as he hasn’t taken his suit off since yesterday.”
“If you have the complete authorities you [claim to have] then you are responsible for what happened and must resign immediately,” he said.
MP Essam Sultan, leading member of Al-Wasat Party, said that it is not enough to dismiss a governor or minister because those who appointed them will “appoint their [replacement]”. He called on the PA to perform its duty towards the people who elected them and form a national unity government that could be held accountable.
Sultan was not alone is his suggestion, MP Ziad Bahaa El Din also proposed that the PA form a national salvation government.
However this is unconstitutional, according to Mazen Hassan, professor of electoral systems at Cairo University. “While this is constitutionally not possible — according to the constitutional declaration the PA doesn’t have the right to form a government — but it is politically possible, [because] if the PA chooses to do so, the people will support them,” he explained.
Mohamed Abu Hamed, head of the Free Egyptians Bloc in the PA, said that Wednesday’s events are a clear sign that military rule has to end and power must be transferred to a civilian body. “SCAF has to go; in one week they have been responsible of the bloodshed of more than 70. If we wait until June 30 we will lose half of the Egyptian people,” he said.
Many of the MPs blamed SCAF and demanded the transition of power to civilian rule, whether through a national salvation government or holding presidential elections as soon as possible.
“The solution is to transfer power to a civilian body immediately, elect a president now,” said MP Amr Hamzawy. “We need to issue laws of reform rather than urging the Minister of Interior to resign,” he said.
The PA’s youth committee and the security and defense committee held a joint meeting and presented their recommendations at the beginning of the session.
Head of the youth committee, Osama Yassin, held the interior minister and all the security officials in Port Said responsible and called for their immediate resignation.
The committee called for interrogating and expelling the board of directors of the Egyptian Football Federation; expelling the prosecutor general citing the usual conclusion of blaming an “undefined third party” in all investigations; and interrogating the governor of Port Said, head of security, president of Al-Masry club and the head of the stadium’s security.
General Abbas Mekheimar, head of the defense and national security committee, called for the immediate restructuring and “cleansing” of the Ministry of Interior and security authorities as they have failed in performing their duties.
FJP MP submitted a request signed by 120 MPs to prosecute the interior minister.
Port Said MPs blamed the events on the counter-revolution, stressing that residents of the coastal city were not to blame.
Port Said El-Badry Farghaly said that security forces in Port Said on Wednesday were on “vacation” as they have allowed all forms of weapons into the stadium and then stood idly by to watch the massacre.
He called on stopping the football league which has been contaminated with “the blood of the martyrs.”
MP Akram El-Shaer, also representing Port Said, said that the fact finding committee will conclude that behind all this structured chaos in the country is the “Republic of Tora,” referring to the prison where members of the ousted regime are held, demanding speedy trials.
This is the first emergency session the PA holds in more than 40 years, according to El Katatny, who opened the session with a moment of silence for the victims.
El-Katatny opened the session with a speech in which he blamed the security forces for the events. “Extreme negligence by security forces … The repeated violent clashes throughout the football season were enough warnings and there was sufficient time but they failed to fulfill their duties,” he said.
The PA Speaker said the killings were part of a diabolical master plan.
“The revolution is in danger and you have been elected to be its guardians,” he told the MPs.
Chaos broke out in the session when El-Katatny suggested it will not be aired live and put the motion to a vote. MPs voted against the motion and the session was aired in full.
