CAIRO
– Kamal remembers this bloody day, which was seven years ago, as if it had happened yesterday, and his colleagues were rushing to escape from gas bombs at the Air Defense Stadium during the match between Zamalek and Enppi in the Egyptian League.
One, two, F10 F22, Kamal, who is a pseudonym for one of the Ultras members of the Zamalek Club, helps his colleagues carry the bodies, while gas bombs continue to be fired.
Kamal says to Al-Jazeera Net, "The first suspect I have is the president of Zamalek club Mortada Mansour, who went out about two days before the match on television, and said that entering the match was free, and he prepared a surprise for the White Knights or the team's fans."
Kamal and his companions understood the message as an invitation from the club president to “come tomorrow,” as if Mansour was addressing his words to the ultras in particular, and although everyone is aware of the extent of the dispute between the ultras and the club president, they did not imagine that the matter would reach this point.
And not only Ultras members who accuse the club’s president of luring them to the massacre, but the families of the victims as well, and most of them - according to Kamal - accused Mortada Mansour of being behind the matter, and their testimonies indicated that the famous fan, Sayed Mashagheb, and the rest of those imprisoned in this case, had nothing to do with the matter, without That one of the officials be able to move to refer the real accused to trial.
The official version says that the real cause of the accident came after limiting the audience to only 10,000 fans, who were carrying tickets for the match, while the rest wanted to enter without forcible tickets, and the clashes took place, while young Ultras confirm that a number of victims were ticket holders.
The spokesman for the Ministry of Health at the time, Hossam Abdel Ghaffar, attributed the casualties due to clashes between security and the fans of Zamalek, which was stated by the “Ultra White Knights” page, and confirmed at the time by eyewitnesses from the Ultras.
One of the witnesses told a local newspaper, “At first, people from the Interior Ministry were in front of the corridor and at the end of it, and we were told we will enter you, but suddenly, once, the door was locked, then we were told we will enter you from the second door, and as the young men moved towards the other door, The police fired tear gas at us."
The witness continued, "And we were in the middle of the corridor, the young men started to move, then they fell in the crowd, and with the large number, gas and birdshot struck, the young men continued to fall to the ground, and the running and jostling continued."
In turn, Zamalek club president Mortada Mansour defended himself by saying that the "Ultra White Knights Youth League" is responsible for the events at the Air Defense Stadium.
He went on to say - in one of the televised interviews after the incident - that there were saboteurs planning to throw a bomb among 10,000 fans, based on what he said were official records and investigations, during which the defendants admitted receiving money for that.
He admitted that he gave the Ultras youth tickets, before he was surprised by a conspiracy led by the fan "Sayed Moshaghib" (imprisoned) and others, denying that "those who were martyred in the air defense incidents belong to the Ultras."
Mansour demanded that the Ultras youth be confronted with security in a direct way, and said that this "is the solution", considering them "drug users", adding that "there is no dialogue with them."
Mansour went further, accusing the Brotherhood of pushing thugs among the Ultras youth, to invest in the crowds and stampede, to carry out their "heinous crime", in press statements to him, as they did before that in the Port Said stadium accident, he said.
He pointed out that the incident was "planned to break the prestige of the state, and that the group used one of its armed wings, the Ultras, to carry out its purposes and to blame the police."
There is still conflict about the details of the incident, and the forensic doctor retracted the content of the first report on the deaths of the victims, to the effect that the death was the result of suffocation with police gas, and then it was proven in an official report that he was subjected to pressure from the victims’ families, so he wrote this report, while a later report confirmed that the victims died as a result of The stampede that dropped some of them under the feet of their colleagues.
The Ultras League called to commemorate the victims of the bloody day in the year following its occurrence, and Al-Ahly and Zamalek fans used to stand in the 22nd minute in the matches they attended, while the name of the stadium was changed to “June 30 Stadium.”
Zamalek player Omar Jaber refused to continue playing after learning of the casualties outside the stadium, and said in televised statements that he could not stand on his trembling feet after learning of the tragedy, and was punished by the club's management for that situation.
In turn, the Council of Ministers decided to postpone the league, and the Board of Directors of the Football Association decided to freeze the decision of the fans to return to the stadiums following this incident.
In conjunction with the seventh anniversary of the massacre, the masses inaugurated the hashtag "#Open_Benmot", the last words that the victims said before their death in the narrow corridor due to suffocation. Through this hashtag, the masses renewed their call for a just retribution, and the accountability of those who were really involved in the case.
In my country they wronged me, may God have mercy on the twenty
pic.twitter.com/Or25QUN2F0#JFT20
— Amr Gaber (@AmrGaber1911) February 7, 2022
The ticket, is it possible for me to know why my son died 💔# JFT20 # Open_Benmut pic.twitter.com/Ouj6IIimgc
— Cut Chick 🐣💛 (@Sama7S0liman) February 8, 2022
Like today, seven years ago, twenty Zamalek fans died because of their guilt, and those who killed them were free to corrupt the land.. The last word they said was: Open by dying.
God bless them.
#Open_Benmot pic.twitter.com/BbQLb1sMsQ
- M.
Consultant/ Mr. Hanafi Amer (@esayedamer) February 8, 2022
Informing them on that day said the public returned,
they gathered the men for free entry
, and finally we will return..Atari was an ambush.
— ﮼Mohamed (@itsmohamed90l) February 8, 2022
Don't forget and keep thinking.. They killed our sisters and said tickets 😔 #Iftah_Benmut
— ali ashour (@aliashour273) February 8, 2022
We will not forget you until we meet you 20 🖤 # Open_Benmot pic.twitter.com/2jtuCt3R6j
— A_Ahmedy20 (@Ahmedy20A) February 8, 2022
Day 8 is a black day in the history of Egyptian sports #Fath_Benmut
— Hassan Turki.⚽🇦🇹13🇦🇹 (@hhassan1911) February 8, 2022
#Open_Benmot pic.twitter.com/84CyKo5UX6
— Hassan Turki.⚽🇦🇹13🇦🇹 (@hhassan1911) February 8, 2022
May God have mercy on the 20 and the 74 and may God fight those who killed them #Fath_Benmut
— 𝗠𝗢𝗛𝗔𝗠𝗠𝗘𝗗 𝗔𝗕𝗗𝗨𝗢 (@MohammedAbd1998) February 8, 2022
'' Standing in the corridor, Zamalek, free, my heart is good, your soul is evil, "
may God have mercy on the 20" 💔# Iftah_Benmut
— ‹ 🅴🅺🆁🅰🅼🆈 | (@Official_ekramy) February 8, 2022