Soccer fans’ ire stoked

CAIRO

Angry soccer fans rampaged through a posh diplomatic neighborhood in Cairo over the weekend, smashing shop windows and shouting obscenities in a frenzy fed by venomous headlines that portrayed Algerians as barbaric terrorists with a history of violence.

Egyptians were infuriated by media reports that their fans were brutalized by their Algerian rivals after Algeria won a playoff match Wednesday in Khartoum, Sudan, to qualify for the 2010 World Cup.

Egypt’s government — often bemoaned by its people as repressive and indifferent to their suffering under grinding poverty — appears to have seized on the furor to demonstrate some unity with its citizens. Instead of the usual crackdown on demonstrations, authorities allowed crowds to surge into the streets near the Algerian Embassy and vent their anger in riots overnight between Thursday and Friday.

Although the two teams play each other periodically, the stakes for this match were much higher, with entrance to the World Cup on the line.

The troubles began when crowds in Cairo hurled stones at the Algerian team’s bus before a first match here on Nov. 14, injuring three players. Egypt won 2-0, forcing the playoff. And in the next few days, mobs in Algeria ransacked the offices of Egyptian companies.

After the second match in Khartoum, Egyptian newspapers used provocative headlines about Egyptian fans being attacked by machete-wielding crowds — allegations never confirmed. Sudanese police said there were only a small number of light injuries.

“Barbaric attacks on Egyptian fans in Khartoum,” said one headline in the Egyptian daily Al-Masry Al-Youm. “Algerians chase Egyptian fans with knives and machetes,” said another.

“Algeria: a legacy of blood, hatred and a history of violence” said another headline in an apparent reference to the civil war between Islamic extremists and Algerian government forces that killed up to 200,000 people in the 1990s.

One Egyptian TV program invited viewers to express an opinion about whether Algeria might even be in league with Israel. Some Egyptians even said Algerians are not real Arabs or Muslims.

One of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s sons, a businessman who rarely speaks in public, took the unusual step of phoning in to a television talk show and delivering a 40-minute rant. Alaa Mubarak, who attended the match in Khartoum, called on Egypt to respond to the Algerians’ “terror, hostility.”

“It is impossible that we as Egyptians take this. We have to stand up and say, ‘Enough,’ ” he said. “When you insult my dignity … I will beat you on the head.”

The Egypt-Algeria soccer rivalry — and the violence that goes with it — dates back decades. And commentators had predicted trouble days before the first of their two matches.

A similar face-off in 1989 ended in rioting in the stadium after Egypt beat Algeria 1-0 to qualify for the World Cup. In the melee, an Algerian player seriously injured an Egyptian team doctor with a broken bottle.

This time, Egypt’s government escalated the dispute to a diplomatic incident. Egypt summoned Algeria’s ambassador to protest the attacks on Egyptian businesses in Algeria after the first match and recalled its own ambassador for consultations.

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