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Monday, November 16, 2009

Algerian and Egyptian soccer fans turn violent

From the Daily News Egypt:

A roar of delight erupted here Saturday as Egypt beat Algeria, setting up a World Cup play-off with their bitter rivals after a tense encounter just days after a violent attack on the visiting team's bus.

However, 32 people, including 20 Algerians, were injured in clashes in and around Cairo after the match, the health ministry said on Sunday.

Ministry spokesman Abdel Rahman Shahin, quoted by Egypt's state news agency MENA, said 12 Egyptians and 20 Algerians were injured in central Cairo and in Giza, near the capital, on Saturday night.

Twenty-nine of them have been discharged while the three others are in "stable condition," said Shahin.

Trouble flared after the game when a group of Egyptian fans stoned buses ferrying Algerian fans away from the stadium, an AFP journalist said. Three Algerian players were injured when stones were also hurled at their bus.

Today, the Algerian fans took revenge:
Thousands of Algerians held a spontaneous rally Sunday in the capital Algiers in support of their national football team, which degenerated into attacks on Egyptian businesses.

But it later descended into violence when fans broke through the metal shutters to smash the window and ransack the offices of EgyptAir, an AFP journalist said.

The offices of mobile telephone company Djeezy, part of the Egyptian telecommunications group Orascom, was also ransacked, the website of al-Watan daily reported.

The company also said one of its employees was assaulted at Algiers airport.
Which just goes to prove that the root of all Middle East violence is Israel.

UPDATE: An Egyptian man asked his parents for $9 to buy an Egyptian flag so he could celebrate Egypt's victory. They refused. So he burned down their house.

Also, there was rioting in France after the match, causing much damage.