CAIRO, Egypt: At least 40 persons were killed while more than a dozen others sustained injuries when clashes broke out between football fans and the security forces in Cairo.
The clashes erupted when the fans of a football club tried to force their way into a Cairo football stadium to watch a match on Sunday between Zamalek and Enppi without tickets.
The police fired tear gas and birdshot to disperse the crowds outside the stadium which resulted in the stampede as people started running in a very narrow place in an attempt to escape.
In a statement, the Egyptian interior ministry blamed Zamalek fans for the deadly clashes, saying that they were trying to attend the local league match without buying tickets.
“Huge numbers of Zamalek club fans came to Air Defense Stadium to attend the match … and tried to storm the stadium gates by force, which prompted the troops to prevent them from continuing the assault on the stadium facilities,” the statement said.
However, a Facebook page run by Zamalek fans rejected the ministry’s statement.
