Egypt's new eruption of violence deepens malaise

CAIRO (AP) ? A new eruption of political violence in Egypt over the weekend left more than 50 people dead, deepening the malaise as the Islamist president struggles to get a grip on enormous social and economic problems and the increasingly dangerous fault lines that divide this nation of 85 million.

In an ominous sign, a one-time jihadist group on Sunday blamed the secular opposition for the violence and threatened to set up vigilante militias to defend the government it supports.

The Mediterranean coastal city of Port Said, about 140 miles northeast of Cairo, saw some of the worst violence since Hosni Mubarak's ouster nearly two years ago. Clashes flared anew on Sunday, killing seven more people and pushing the two day death toll for riots in the city to 44.

Tens of thousands of mourners poured into the streets for a mass funeral for most of the 37 people who died on Saturday, the worst day of clashes. Mourners chanted against Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.

"We are now dead against Morsi," said Port Said activist Amira Alfy. "We will not rest now until he goes and we will not take part in the next parliamentary elections. Port Said has risen and will not allow even a semblance of normalcy to come back," she said.

Violence in the city erupted on Saturday after a court convicted and sentenced 21 defendants to death for their roles in a mass soccer riot in a Port Said stadium on Feb. 1, 2012 that left 74 dead. Most of those sentenced to death were local soccer fans from Port Said, deepening a sense of persecution that Port Said's residents have felt since the stadium disaster, the worst soccer violence ever in Egypt.

The riots there stemmed mostly from animosity between police and die-hard Egyptian soccer fans, known as Ultras, who have become highly politicized. The Ultras frequently confront police and were also part of the uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak's regime two years ago.

They were also at the forefront of protests against the military rulers who took over from Mubarak and are now again on the front lines of protests against the Morsi, the country's first freely elected leader.

At least 11 more people were killed in protests elsewhere in the country on Friday, when hundreds of thousands staged rallies across much of the country on the second anniversary of the popular uprising that toppled Mubarak. The violence in Port Said brought the toll for three days to 53 dead.

The violence flared only a month after a prolonged crisis ? punctuated by violence ? over the new constitution. Ten died in that round of unrest and hundreds were injured.

With each new crisis, the rifts in the country deepen and lay the ground for even more trouble ahead while a simmering economic crisis grows more dire.

A prominent Islamist leader delivered a thinly veiled warning that Islamist groups would set up militia-like vigilante groups to protect public and state property against attacks.

Addressing a news conference, Tareq el-Zomr of the once-jihadist Gamaa Islamiya, said:

"If Security forces don't achieve security, it will be the right of the Egyptian people and we at the forefront to set up popular committees to protect private and public property and counter the aggression on innocent citizens."

The threat by el-Zomr was accompanied by his charge that the mostly secular and liberal opposition was responsible for the deadly violence of the past few days, setting the stage for possible bloody clashes between protesters and Islamist militiamen. The opposition denies the charge.

Legal expert Hoda Nasrallah said the violence in Port Said over a court ruling, indicated a growing lack of confidence by Egyptians in the courts system at a time when Morsi and his Islamist supporters worked to undermine the judiciary. said

"There is the violence that has grown common after the revolution, but there is also Morsi's lack of respect for the independence of the judiciary which is feeding distrust of the judiciary," said Nasrallah.

Islamists in November and December laid siege to the country's highest court in anticipation of a ruling against the legality of the Islamist-dominated upper house of parliament and a panel drafting a new constitution at the time. Before that, Islamists had repeatedly staged sit-ins outside courts and assaulted opposition lawyers when judges held hearings on political cases.

There was also a funeral in Cairo for two policemen killed in the Port Said violence a day earlier. Several policemen grieving for their colleagues heckled Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim, who is in charge of the force, when he arrived for their funeral, according to witnesses.

The angry officers screamed at the minister that he was only at the funeral for the TV cameras ? a highly unusual show of dissent in Egypt, where the police force maintains military-like discipline.

Ibrahim hurriedly left and the funeral proceeded without him, a sign that the prestige of the state and its top executives were diminishing.

In Port Said, mourners chanted "There is no God but Allah," and "Morsi is God's enemy" as the funeral procession made its way through the city after prayers for the dead at the city's Mariam Mosque. Women clad in black led the chants, which were quickly picked up by the rest of the mourners.

There were no police or army troops in sight. But the funeral procession briefly halted after gunfire rang out. Security officials said the gunfire came from several mourners who opened fire at the Police Club next to the cemetery.

Activists, however, said the gunfire first came from inside the army club, which is also close to the cemetery. Some of the mourners returned fire, which drew more shots as well as tear gas, according to witnesses. They, together with the officials, spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation in the city on the Mediterranean at the northern tip of the Suez Canal.

The seven were killed when police exchanged fire with gunmen trying to storm two police stations and the local prison, according to the city's director of hospitals, Abdel-Rahman Farah. A total of 630 people were injured, some of them with gunshot wounds, he said.

Survivors and witnesses of the Port Said soccer melee blame Mubarak loyalists for the violence, saying they had a hand in instigating the killings. The troubles erupted after Port Said's home team Al-Masry beat Cairo's Al-Ahly 3-1. Some witnesses said "hired thugs" wearing green T-shirts and posing as Al-Masry fans led the attacks.

Other witnesses said at the very least, police were responsible for gross negligence in the soccer violence, which killed 74 people, most of them Al-Ahly fans.

Anger at police was evident in Port Said, home to most of the 73 men accused of involvement in the bloodshed. Of those, 21 were convicted of murder charges on Saturday and the court is to rule on the remainder of the defendants in March.

In Port Said on Sunday, army troops backed by armored vehicles staked out positions at key government facilities to protect state interests and try to restore order.

The military issued a statement urging Port Said residents to exercise restraint and protect public property, but also warning that troops would deal "firmly" with anyone who "terrorizes" citizens or infringes upon the nation's security and stability.

Rioters on Saturday attacked the prison where the defendants were being held and tried to storm police stations and government offices around the city. Health officials say at least 37 people were killed, including two policemen, in rioting on Saturday.

In Cairo, clashes broke out for the fourth straight day on Sunday, with protesters and police outside two landmark, Nile-side hotels near central Tahrir Square, birthplace of the 2011 uprising. Police fired tear gas while protesters pelted them with rocks.

The clashes show how turmoil was deepening in Egypt nearly seven months after Morsi took office. Critics say Morsi has failed to carry out promised reforms of the judiciary and police, and claim little has improved in the two years since the uprising.

At the heart of the rising opposition toward Morsi's government is a newly adopted constitution, which was ratified in a nationwide referendum.

Opponents claim the document has an Islamist slant. It was drafted hurriedly by the president's allies without the participation of representatives of liberals and minority Christians on the panel that wrote the charter.

Protesters on the streets this past week demanded the formation of a national unity government, early presidential elections and amendments to disputed clauses in the constitution.

Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist group from which he hails, counter that the opposition was seeking to overturn the results of democratic and free elections. The Brotherhood, a well-organized and established political group in Egypt for decades, has emerged as by far the most powerful force in post-Mubarak Egypt.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/egypts-eruption-violence-deepens-malaise-195002208--spt.html

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