Egyptians attack Algerians in post-match violence
Joseph Mayton20 November 2009 in Egypt, Egyptian Sport, Football, News, Sport
CAIRO: By early afternoon, the scene in front of the Algerian Embassy in Cairo had calmed somewhat after angry Egyptians attacked the embassy in the upscale Zamalek neighborhood. At least 11 riot police – who had been surrounding the area for the past week – were injured in the violence that erupted late Thursday evening. Egyptians threw stones and launched firebombs at the embassy while yelling anti-Algerian statements.
According to the interior ministry, in addition to the 11 police officers injured, 15 cars were damaged and four store fronts were destroyed.
“There are some crazy things going on at the Algerian Embassy. Fires and things in the street,” wrote an American passerby in an SMS to Bikya Masr in the early hours of Friday morning.
According to Mahmoud, a police officer present on Thursday night, groups of Egyptians tried to push their way through the riot police to get to the embassy. At first, he says, police were able to hold them off, but “they became too many and we couldn’t keep control.”
The officer says that when the group became determined to get to the embassy, police tried their best to curtail any violence, but they could do little to stop the mob.
“We tried and some of our people got injured,” he adds.
The Egyptians held signs calling for the expulsion of the Algerian ambassador from Egypt, saying that reported violence against Egyptians in Sudan following Wednesday’s match. According to reports from Khartoum, some 21 Egyptians were wounded in skirmishes following the match, but the Sudanese have denied such reports.
One of the shopkeepers near the scene told Bikya Masr on Thursday that he can’t believe how the Egyptian fans reacted, arguing that it shows just how far football has come to represent what it means to be Egyptian.
“They go and try to destroy and embassy, shops and cars? It is wrong and this is not what football is about. We all wanted to see Egypt in the World Cup, but they lost. What are you going to do? Go and destroy our shops and our cars? I can’t believe it,” said Omar Abdel Hamid.
Violent outbursts have come to encapsulate the battle between Egypt and Algeria, including incidents of hate and destruction against both Algerians and Egyptians in Algeria and Egypt, respectively.
One British citizen wrote on his Twitter account that his French-Algerian girlfriend was verbally attacked in Cairo’s Ataba square on Wednesday morning after Egyptians in the area discovered her Algerian heritage.
With the violence on Thursday night, many are worried that the situation in Egypt has enabled the frenzied response to the quest for football glory.
“We were all excited and showed our love for Egypt, but these few people have stained Egypt’s image and shown that the country is not what it should be. They used football as an excuse to the situation in this country. It is so bad,” said Amr, a 29-year-old Egyptian who says his disappointment at Wednesday loss was strong, but he never felt the need to attack the Algerians in the country.
“What do they expect to achieve with this? Nothing. It just shows that people are frustrated,” he added.
BM
What do you expect in a populace prevented from self-expression, freedom of thought, self-determination, and individuality? If you can’t create or debate because you plow into political or religious walls, really where do you expect people to take out their frustrations?
I think this article gives the impression that Egyptians attacked the embassy only because Egypt lost in the match. Whereas in fact these are being committed in retaliation to the violence against Egyptians taking place in Sudan an Algeria, the Egyptian hostages being taken, the attacks on Egyptian businesses in Algeria (Arab Contractors, Orascom, Arab Contractors).
Some of these reports may be true and others may not be. I am not saying they are a justification for an attack on the Algerian embassy, but please try to give a more comprehensive view of the situation.
It is not about football any more….that’s what you must understand…Football is a game…we lost the game…it’s okay…it’s sports…it’s the problem of the algerian attacks on the egyptian people inside Sudan and inside Algeria…those Algerian nation didn’t care enough to get the right news when it was reported that we Egyptians killed 8 Algerians here during their first game…they did not care to go to the airport and check if it’s really true that they recieved any dead bodies coming from cairo…not mentioning that the Algerian Ambassador in egypt kept on telling it’s a lie still they didn’t want to believe it and took it as an excuse to attack the Egyptians in Sudan….it is beyond a football game…to hell goes soccer…we want our egyptian dignity back…we will not stop and watch our egyptian nation being Humilated,….IT IS ENOUGH.
Sorry for the typos…just correcting:
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From what I was reading in the news, It was the Egyptian fans who started all this by attacked the Algerian team and fans in Egypt causing serious injuries. And an Algerian fan was killed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMM2-38XTFE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oJQ1p1GnD4&feature=related
This is getting way out of hand and if their governments don’t do anything to stop this
A lot of insults and hate statement were exchanged between the two sides, I can’t believe what I’m reading on youtubes, youtube should be sud fro letting such racial and horrible horrible comments, killing threats, being posted… and it’s seems they are more than threats now, aren’t they …. It’s way, way to much.. you would thing that people go to jail for this type thing ?!!!!
Egyptians are not protesting the game; they are protesting being beaten by Algerian ex-prisoners who attacked them with knives and rocks in Sudan, and others in Algeria who attacked Egyptian homes threatening to kill them, as well as Egyptian businesses that were ransacked in Algeria while the government watched and maybe even encouraged this. Obviously everyone who has expressed their opinion in this article has not been to Algeria in the past week nor Sudan for the game, nor do they know anyone who has. Because I do and I know what I am talking about.
This is very sad! lets not play the who started this first game, Egyptians were TAPED throwing rocks at the Algerian soccer players. Not right.. you can open pandora’s box and then justify the actions of the Egyptian people!
I was simply telling an Egyptian friend that her reaction to these events (swearing at Algerians and Arabs all over the internet), and her brother started to threaten to come beat me up. There is an underlying problem here, beyond the soccer match, that needs to be solved.
At this point we don’t care whose fault is and who did what, cause it doesn’t justify this violence from both parties. Are we going to let a bunch of Hooligans tear apart two countries that had a long history of friendship? Don’t we have bigger things to worry about than a stupid soccer game? Yes I said stupid; because at this point it’s no longer sport, its hooliganism!!! We are giving the world a free circus show, that is not funny for anyone!!! Sport is about fare-play and not this. And if this is what you think sport is, we don’t want it. Things need to go back the way they were.
I also want to send a message to the media, journalist and sport commentators/shows of both parties.
I say Shame on you for fueling hatred and promoting all this violence, between two sister nations. People look at you as their raw model, and you have the tools that you can use to set the peace, fare-play in people’s hearts, but you chose not to. You will have blood in your hands and you will have to answer for it, if not now (karma), it will be later (after life). So do something before its too late…!
You Egyptians are funny. Listening to you, we have the impression that Algerians just got crazy and started beating people. You just forget that last Saturday you guys went MAD in Cairo, beating almost every Algerian fan and injuring Algerian players (the Fifa sanction is coming, by the way). Even though violence is bad, the Khartoum event was some sort of revenge, and by the way it was much less than what you claim, unless for you Sudanese are lairs.
One more message and I promise I will shut up,
This is directed the men and women who bears the uniform, from both party. I don’t have to remind you that you took oath, to reinforce the law, and to protect your country from inside and outside harm. If you see hooligans, who are distorting things, harming people (humans), or their action will be causing serious issues for your country that may take serious and non reversible diplomatic or economic hit, you are to intervene do your job and apply the law. You can not just turn your backs.
For the people that want piece and I’m sure it’s the majority compare to the minority of hooligans, to be vigilant and report this kind of issue.
God bless our two countries and all the Arabs and Muslims of the world.
We say no to violence, we say no to extremism, we definitively say know to hooliganism.
And yes to friendship, love and piece.
One more message and I promise I will shut up,
This is directed the men and women who bears the uniform, from both parties. I don’t have to remind you that you took oath, to reinforce the law, and to protect your country from inside and outside harm. If you see hooligans, who are distorting things, harming people (humans), or their action will be causing serious issues for your country that may take serious and non reversible diplomatic or economic hit, you are to intervene, do your job and apply the law. You can not just turn your backs.
For the people that want piece and I’m sure it’s the majority (Millions) compare to the minority of hooligans (hundreds/thousands), to be vigilant and report this kind of issues to the proper authorities.
Again Journalists/show animators, grew a conscious and do the right thing before it’s too late…!!!
God bless our two countries and all the Arabs and Muslims of the world.
We say no to violence, we say no to extremism, we definitively say know to hooliganism.
And yes to friendship, love and piece.
I mean peace. \ /
At this point we don’t care whose fault is and who did what, cause it doesn’t justify this violence from both parties. Are we going to let a bunch of Hooligans tear apart two countries that had a long history of friendship? Don’t we have bigger things to worry about than a stupid soccer game? Yes I said stupid; because at this point it’s no longer sport, its hooliganism!!! We are giving the world a free circus show that is not funny for anyone!!! Sport is about fare-play and not this. And if this is what you think sport is, we don’t want it. Things need to go back the way they were.
I also want to send a message to the media, journalist and sport commentators/shows of both parties.
I say Shame on you for fueling hatred and promoting all this violence, between two sister nations. People look at you as their raw model, and you have the tools that you can use to set the peace, fare-play in people’s hearts, but you chose not to. You will have blood in your hands and you will have to answer for it, if not now (karma), it will be later (after life). So do something before its too late…!
One more message and I promise I will shut up.
This is directed the men and women who bears the uniform, from both parties. I don’t have to remind you that you took oath, to reinforce the law, and to protect your country from inside and outside harm. If you see hooligans, who are distorting things, harming people (humans), or their action will be causing serious issues for your country that may take serious and non reversible diplomatic or economic hit, you are to intervene, do your job and apply the law. You can not just turn your backs.
For the people that want peace and I’m sure it’s the majority (Millions) compare to the minority of hooligans (hundreds/thousands), to be vigilant and report this kind of issues to the proper authorities.
Again Journalists/show animators, grew a conscious and do the right thing before it’s too late…!!!
God bless our two countries and all the Arabs and Muslims of the world.
We say no to violence, we say no to extremism, we definitively say know to hooliganism.
And yes to friendship, love and peace. \ /
This protest is in response to attacks on Egyptians in Algeria and before/during/after the match. This article makes it seem that the protest is due to anger after losing.
Journalists twist things to make the story more interesting or to make it go their way.
What is happening is really a shame on both nations. The two have just shown how uncivilized they are. I am not expecting the governments of both countries to react in a positive way, because I am convinced they are both part of the problem, they started it by allowing their press to spread hatred. I donnot believe that the current violence is about soccer. It is rather about two frustrated peoples with social problems, such us unemployment, lack of housing…etc, they both see this as an occasion to express their frustration. The two governements are using these events to make their people forget about real matters. May god bring both parties to the right path.
The funny thing is, we all know that wether Algerians or Egptians are through, they can only make it as far as the first ound (the 32nd finals). What is the sense of killing each other for no reason? Both governments spent loads of money to make sure they have enough fans in Khartoum. Isn’t better if this money was spent in more important things? I can’t even think of what is more important than a soccer game, since both countries lack everything! But they would rather show off.
The article gives the impression that the Egyptians rioted because we lost on Wednesday. This is not the case. The Egyptians rioted because of the horrible things that happened to them in Sudan. The fact that the person who wrote the article just vaguely mentioned it in a paragraph is blood-boiling in itself. That night, thousands of Algerians spread in the streets of Khartoum ready with knives and whatnot attacked the buses the Egyptians were in by throwing huge stones and knives at them. They had to hide in restaurants and Sudanese locals’ homes to avoid being attacked by Algerians. That’s how bad it was.
It really ticks me off how there are almost no articles on the internet about the incident when there are many others all over the internet about Algeria’s national team’s bus being attacked. And now this. Shame on the media.
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[...] Abdel Hamid, an Egyptian shopkeeper near the Algerian embassy in Cairo, told the Egyptian Web site Bikya Masr that he was shocked by this response by some compatriots: They go and try to destroy an embassy, [...]
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STOP talking let’s see the evidence ,,,,,, see what algerian do with in match football ,, see how can you imagine our egyptian players play while they seeing this in stadium
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2fCfP5aM5o
you can’t imagine what happen to the egyptian fans in sudan they attack them by knives and rocks
and they’re winning the match i want you to imagine what will happen if they lossing the match !!
I got the impression that this article is ANTI-EGYPT.
the egyptians went to the embassy not because they lost the match but because of the lies about algerian corpses following the cairo match in the algerian press which untill now have not been withdrawn…the egyptians attacked in algeria…YOU NEVER MENTIONED THAT it’s all over the news..but instead talked about someone’s gf being verbally attacked!!!!the egyptian compounds were beseiged by angry algerians as a reaction to the ‘LIES’ AND ALGERIAN FORCES WERE SUMMONED FOR THEIR PROTECTION! EGYPTIANS WERE ATTACKED IN SUDAN BY STONES and terrorized by knives and other pocket weapons!
You feel every thing is anti-egypt, not your fault and as a wise man in the comment #13 said, it’s the journalist like Amar Adib (a hooligan in his twisted thoughts) who seeded hate and bad propaganda toward the Algerian in the Egyptians harts. How can a Journalist get to at this low level and still have a job in Journalism?
If we go back to the initial incident that started all this, and ask the Egyptian who through bricks at the Algerian team and fans why you did that, they will tell you that because they felt an overwhelming hatred toward the Algerian and they couldn’t control it. And as everyone knows, you get what you seed. if you seed hate you get hate. if you seed love you get love. Unfortunately Amar Adib and his kind seeded hate and provocation.
I tell Amr Adib, shame on you, the hate and the blood that was shed is on your hand, you have to answer for it before Alah, and you should answer for it before the people that were injured and KILLED.
See by yourselves, and wake up, soccer is not worth all this drama
See how the other Journalist trying to bring Amr Adib to reason!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kM2wIjj8iG4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oJQ1p1GnD4&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoV1QE2ZjHU&feature=response_watch
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDXlnOXRf0Q
The Egyptian mob would never attacked the Algerian Embassy, and burned the Algerian flag without
a tacite understanding of the Cairo regime. The same to be said for the Algerian populace who attacked the Egyptian interest in Algeria (ORASCOM).
That said the Egyptians should accept their defeat in neutral staduim, for the record The Egyptians never, ever defeated the Algerians in a neutral field, Are the Egyptians denying that also???
And let say 21 Egyptians fans self inflicted injuries to themselves, and by the same token let say the bus carrying Algerians players didn’t get stoned by Egyptians supporters, but Algerians players brought stones from Algeria to the airplane, into the Cairo airport, into the bus carrying them to their hotel, smashed the windows of their bus from the inside, and I’m sure Rafik Saifi was asked to smash the head of his teamates.” he did a good job at that didn’t he??”.
That was a soccer game, it ended that’s it. It was only a soccer game people.
Please be fair and search for the truth before you publish any news NO ANLGERIAN WAS KILLED IN EGYPT none .some say that someone threw a stone at the Algerian team’s bus and hurt them first of all the police report say that the glass was broken from inside ……….and every time our team went to Algeria they threw stones at them and their bus so???? and even if it happened ,,,,,,,,,,lot’s of Egyptian appologized for this act on t.v and called who did it crazy ………..
Does this give them the right to purchase all the knives in Sudan before the match and hurt and terorise hundreds of Egyptians traveling with their wives and children after the match ,
Destroying all the shops owned by Egyptians in Swiss,Marseille,Algeria, everywhere
Pushing a young man from the third floor in Paris after the match only because he is Egyptian
SCREW FOOTBALL it’s not about football ……………………
who is hiding the truth and why ????Why you don’t publish the action and the reaction .
STOP HIDING THE TRUTH
so strange egyptien naked themself, they shws their real intention, the hate of algreian country, Algeria spent more than 1 millionmartyr for freedom, while egypte participate in gaza genocide, so egyptien if they shut up will be more wiser for them, coz they are digging their own grave by this stupid behavior….
I would like to ask the website administrators to remove any of the comments that incite hate. Let us be constructive…
“The escalating violence is a symptom of a nation in decline , of a population that once considered themselves to be the beating heart of the Arab world, but who now is losing its credibility”