Soccer fans protest violently after Port Said death sentences confirmed
On Saturday, soccer fans attempted to disrupt shipping on the Suez Canal and set fire to two buildings in Cairo. The fans were protesting death sentences for 21 soccer fans involved in deadly riots last year.
An Egyptian flashes the victory sign after several protesters set fire to tires on the city's dock in an attempt to prevent ships from coming in to the strategic city of Port Said at the Mediterranean end of the Suez Canal, in Egypt, Saturday.
Ahmed Ramadan/AP
Port Said/Cairo, Egypt
Egyptian protesters tried to disrupt shipping on the Suez Canal, an artery for global trade, after a court confirmed death sentences for 21 soccer fans from the canal city of Port Said on Saturday.
However, canal authorities said shipping passing along the canal had been unaffected by the protests in the city, sited at the waterway's northern end, state news agency MENA reported.
In Cairo, fans of a rival soccer team set fire to a police social club and the nearby offices of the Egyptian Soccer Federation, sending smoke rising over the capital. They were enraged by the same court clearing 28 other defendants of blame over the riot, in which more than 70 people were killed.
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