AN INQUIRY INTO the Port Said stadium disaster has found that a severe case of lax security and the actions of both sets of fans were the main causes for the deaths of 74 people.
The parliamentary commission visited the scene of Egypt’s worst ever football violence, where Al-Ahly and Al-Masry supporters clashed on February 1, and concluded in their report on Sunday that police presence should have prevented the massacre.
MP Ashraf Thabet, who was tasked with heading up the fact-finding team, said that fans were able to bring weapons into the stadium without being searched while there were 18,000 present on the day when only 12,000 tickets were sold as many weren’t checked upon arrival.
The security paved the way for such a violent event to occur,” Thabet said in The Daily News Egypt.
Video footage shows fans pouring onto the field at the final whistle while police stand by watching events unfold and the decision by the Port Said Stadium Authority to seal the stadium doors was also condemned.
Also reported was the war online between both ‘ultras’ of both clubs, where violence was predicted before the match.
The findings of the inquiry will be discussed in the Egyptian parliament today.
