File Photo: A shoe is seen inside the goal net one day after soccer supporters clashed at the Port Said stadium February 2, 2012 (Reuters)
The chairman of Port Said-based club Masry, Samir Heliba, said that the club wishes to end the fan rivalry with the Ahly team sparked by the bloody clashes at a Port Said stadium in 2012.
In February 2012, violence erupted between fans of hosts Masry and Ahly following a league game. The clashes left 70 Ahly fans dead and scores injured.
Dozens of people implicated in the violence, including high-ranking police officers, are facing appealable verdicts between five to 15 years in prison.
The Masry club boss stressed that “it is important to find the real criminals who have political motivations” for instigating the clashes, and insisted that such clashes could have happened anywhere else in the country including “Mahallah or Ismailia.”
The Ahly board had declared a boycott of Masry arenas, and the coastal club has voluntarily skipped a premier league competition after the 2012 clashes.
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