Month: December 2014

Von Emir Nader

Als der Vorsitzende des Kairoer Fußballklubs Zamalek am 17. August 2014 sein Büro verließ, wurde er, wie er behauptet, das Ziel eines Mordanschlags. Mortada Mansour meldete den Behörden, dass er von Fans seines eigenen Teams angegriffen wurde—einem Zweig der Ultras, stark organisierte Fußballenthusiasten aus dem ganzen Land. In den darauffolgenden Wochen wurden circa 50 verhaftet und einige von ihnen gefoltert, und nun sieht sich eine Bewegung, der Tausende junger Ägypter angehören, mit Terrorismusvorwürfen konfrontiert. Die Anwälte, Journalisten und Ultras, mit denen ich gesprochen habe, waren aller­dings der Meinung, dass es bei der Kampagne um mehr als um die Anschuldigungen einer Persönlichkeit aus dem Profisport oder den Anstieg des Hooliganismus geht. Viele haben eher das Gefühl, dass es sich um eine Rachekampagne handelt, die von Angehörigen der staatlichen Sicherheitsorgane aus der Zeit vor der Revolution ausgeht.

Continue reading “Ägyptischer Fußball ist eine Gefahr für den Staat”

Von Patrick Keddie

LATE AT NIGHT, waiting as instructed by the Opera House on the island of Zamalek, my phone rings. “You know the lions by the bridge? Meet us there.”

I go to the statues standing sentry at the bridge over the Nile, then another call comes in. “You are by the lions? Good. Come onto the bridge, we’ll pick you up.”

I wander onto Qasr al-Nil. It is thronged with young couples enjoying the cool Cairo night. A final phone call: “Okay. We see you, wait there.”

A car pulls up with three young men in it. I get in and we speed away from the center of the city. They don’t hang around because they fear the police are after them. They move houses and change their phone numbers every couple of days, and they don’t dare visit their families. “It’s a sacrifice,” says one, “but not like the sacrifice those in jail are making.”

The young men are leading members of the Ultras White Knights (UWK) — a group of hard-core football fans of Zamalek SC, one of Egypt’s most successful football clubs. After we find a safe place to talk, they occasionally glance at the tape recorder as if it might explode. Ultras rarely speak to the media, but this is an exceptional time.

Continue reading “Blood Sport: The Ultras White Knights vs. Mortada Mansour”

Von James M. Dorsey

Militant, street battle-hardened soccer fans stormed a Cairo stadium in advance of the second leg of crowned Cairo Al Ahli SC’s African Confederation Cup final against Ivory Coast’s Sewe Sport in a reassertion of the fans’ key role in protest against the regime of toppled president Hosni Mubarak and subsequent Egyptian governments.

The storming constituted a rejection by the fans of an appeal by the interior ministry, which has banned spectators from attending matches for much of the last four years, to cooperate in ensuring an Egyptian triumph on the pitch. The appeal further was an effort by the ministry, the target of deep-seated soccer fan hostility because of its control of Egypt’s despised police and security forces, to pave the way for a reopening of stadia to spectators.

Continue reading “Militant soccer fans reassert their key role in protest with storming of Cairo stadium”

Von Al Jazeera

Repression of students’ dissent is uniting ultras groups and student activists from across the spectrum.

Protests continued on university campuses across Egypt following the court verdict that cleared ousted President Hosni Mubarak of charges of killing protesters during the January 25 uprising.

The protesters comprise a broad mix of Islamists, liberals, leftists, independents and other non-affiliated students. The scale of protests prompted state-owned news website Al-Ahram to describe it as Egypt witnessing “a university uprising”.

But it was one group of activists that has given a sharper edge to many of the ongoing protests on university campuses across Egypt since the new academic year began on October 11: Ultras Nahdawy.

Continue reading “‘Ultras’ fuel Egypt’s campus protests”