The story leading up to the current riots begins on this past Saturday. On Saturday, November 14, 2009 at 7:30PM the Egyptian National Soccer Team played the Algerian National Soccer Team in Cairo Stadium. I am not sure of the exact stipulations of the game, but I know that if Egypt won the game by a margin of three goals, they were guaranteed a spot at the 2010 World Cup, which will take place in South Africa this summer. (Whether this excluded Algeria from going to the World Cup, I am not sure). We had originally thought it would be fun to go to the game, and we tried to get tickets, but we were unable to. I did not go to the ticket booth the day the tickets went on sale but apparently it was a scene of mass hysteria. Apparently, the tickets are not so much sold form the booth, but rather by 'policemen' who boy the tickets and then sell them at at least triple their value. The people there said there were Egyptians all over the place, and a lot of yelling, and very little order. I guess government corruption in the form of police corruption can breed that.
Anyway, I knew around ten people, study abroad students, who were successful in obtaining tickets. They paid unbelievable prices for them, but they are huge soccer fans so they thought it was worth it.
It turned out to be a blessing in disguise that we were not successful in getting tickets. The day of the game featured craziness all over Cairo. In Zamalek, people went into the streets, painted their faces, wrapped themselves in flags, honked horns both in cars and outside of them, and danced and cheered all day long, literally beginning in the morning. Apparently, the situation at the stadium was ten times more crazy than this. The boys we know who were there described to us what it was like entering the stadium, which they did around 2PM, over five hours before game time. They went into the stadium through the third class entrance, although they did have first class tickets. They said riot police lined the entrance and were letting only a few people in at a time. Because there were huge masses trying to enter the stadium, it turned into a situation where a mob of people was crushed in between a bottle neck created by two rows of riot police at the entrance to the stadium. One boy said that for the hour during which he was in this situation, he was not moving under his own command at all. He was simply being moved by the crowd. The boys said that when they finally neared the entrance, they were somewhat separated in between all the craziness. Two of them managed to hang onto each other though. One got through the entrance, and over the crowd, he was pulling the other one toward the entrance, when all of a sudden the policeman nearest to him took his club and hit the Egyptian man next to the boy not yet into the stadium. This man started bleeding from the head, and our two friends (one inside the stadium and the other still outside) basically had nothing to do but stare at each other with "Oh no!/Oh my God!" expressions. Both boys eventually got into the Stadium and said that the cheering was constant not only during the game but for the five hours before it. I believe this because they were showing the stadium on TV throughout the day, at by 3PM it was packed!
Back in the comparatively less insane environment of Zamalek, at around 7PM, the streets became completely deserted as anyone and everyone either returned to their homes, or more likely went to cafes and restaurants, to watch the game. Luckily one of my friends had her family visiting last week and she invited us to watch the game with them in their hotel room. This was a nice atmosphere to watch the game in. It was not wild, but there were enough of us there that it was a lot of fun.
The game itself was a great game. We had expected more fighting between the players because apparently the teams have battled in the past, but it was a relatively clean game. This was probably partially because Egypt scored within the first few minutes. Algeria was basically concerned with playing defense after that. After all, Egypt winning by one goal meant nothing. And it looked like this might happen because after ninety minutes the score was still 1-0 Egypt. Somehow, miraculously, about half way through the six minutes of extra time added to the second half, Egypt scored again. The stadium erupted! The announcer was yelling, "Allah, Allah, Allah!" over and over again. The game ended about two minutes later. Egypt winning by two goals meant that a tie-breaker game between the two teams would be played in Sudan on Wednesday night.
By the celebrations all over Cairo however, you would have thought Egypt had won the World Cup, not just forced a tie-breaker game to possibly go to the World Cup. In Zamalek, people again were cheering and dancing in the streets. Now, they were also lighting aerosol cans on fire and setting off fireworks. From the looks of things on TV, they were doing similar things all over the city and even more so downtown. We stayed in the streets for a while, even participating from time to time in the "Masr!" chants. ('Masr' means Egypt in Egyptian colloquial Arabic. In modern standard Arabic, the name of the country is pronounced 'Misr.') We then headed back to the dorms. This is where our night got interesting.
Just beyond the cheering in the streets, the riot police were assembled and ready to enter into the crowd at the first sign of violence. This was a daunting enough sight, but nothing prepared us for what we would see next. The Algerian Embassy is in Zamalek and we need to walk by it on the way back to the dorms. For the several days before the game and particularly on the day of the game, there was increased Egyptian security around the Embassy. Now the Embassy's perimeter was lined with riot police and armored cars. The street was completely barricaded and all of the lights, which aren't many to begin with, were off. As Americans, we were permitted through the barricades. It was a little unsettling being on the street with so many policemen focusing on us, but they seemed to be leaving us alone. As we reached the second barricade, which we would have to cross to get to the dorm, there was an Egyptian trying to get through the other way. He was telling the policeman, I think, that he lived on the street and the policeman was not letting him through. In fact, he was pushing him back. At the same time, we were trying to get the policemen to move the barricade over for us. It was a tense moment, and we even debated going through the barricade the other way, but eventually we were let through while the Egyptians were still forced to wait. To make a long story short, we made it back to the dorms alright and slept while the rest of the city celebrated. There was evidence of this the next morning as the smog was particularly intense, most likely for the setting of fires. There was also more evidence that we were lucky to have not been at the game. Apparently there were almost no women there. And another boy that we know broke his leg there. He was hoping a fence for some reason and did not realize it was twelve feet high. He was also wearing cowboy boots. He now has to have his leg set somewhere, and he's thinking that Egypt might not be the best place for that. All in all though, everyone survived, which, as the night played out, we thought was becoming less and less likely. And we were still not in the clear. There was one more game to go...
The game on Wednesday produced the most national pride I have seen the whole time I have been in Egypt, and that is saying a lot considering I was here on the 6th of October, which is an important national holiday commemorating an important date in Egyptian history. Students were cheering all day on campus and most were dressed in red and black. In a way it was kind of nice to see the Egyptians take pride in something and unify themselves behind it. Despite the game not actually being in Cairo (it was in Sudan), the city was just as crazy if not more so. To illustrate this, I will reference the traffic my bus hit on the way home from school. On Wednesdays, I take the 5PM bus home. It usually leaves a little before 5PM and arrives back in Zamalek between a little after 6PM and 6:15PM. The bus left on time, but I didn't step foot back into the dorm until around 7:20PM. It was incredibly frustrating, but at least I made it back in time to see the game begin. This time, we watched the game at the dorms. They set up a game watch in the lobby. This game featured more fighting between the players at first. This ended however when Algeria scored about half way through the first half. Unfortunately, Egypt was never able to overcome the deficit and lost the game 1-0. Everyone is the dorm was devastated. And we were worried about rioting. After all, the Egyptians had thrown rocks at the Algerians' bus when it arrived in Cairo before the game. Some of the players had been injured and had to play with bandages on their heads and arms. (The Egyptians formulated a story that the Algerians had actually hit themselves with the rocks and then threw the rocks threw the bus windows because they wanted to make it look as if the Egyptians had attacked them. This story was spread not only by students and young people. Some of our professors told the story as well).
Needless to say, there was potential for huge trouble. Throughout the night we heard stories of Algerians being harassed at a market in Zamalek. If the conflict was physical, it was limitedly so. And my guess is that both sides were equally at fault. I believe the Egyptians probably instigated the flight, but what were the Algerians doing out in Cairo at this time? That could be called instigation. This morning, it appeared the city had made it through the night, though again the smog was particularly intense. Today, we heard that some Egyptians had been attacked and possibly some killed in Sudan after the game by Algerians. For this reason, people were trying to riot in the streets outside the Embassy. I saw the Embassy today on my way home from school. The street was closed and it was PACKED with riot police and armored trucks. It was a scary thing to see. Though, I actually think it makes Zamalek one of the safer places to be. There's definitely an increased police presence here now and it looks like there are even some higher-ups who have been brought in to oversee the operation. So I am totally confident that whatever is happening in front of the Embassy not is well under control. I think the increased police presence will probably last a few days, at least through the weekend. It may last through the week, but I think once the Hajj holiday begins on Thursday, thoughts about the game will subside and the danger of an attack on Algeria by way of the Algerian Embassy in Zamalek will subside.
However, this sentiment was running high today. The Egyptians in one of my friend's classes talked about the national pride that the game inspired. And they compared he game to a war between Egypt and Algeria. They said for this kind of national pride to be inspired in Egypt, the country would have to go to war. This is logic that is interesting and scary at the same time. There are also other political implications of the game. One of my professors said that the game was so promoted by the government's of Algeria and Egypt because it diverted both national and international attention from the real political, economic, social, etc. problems in the two nations. This is also logic that is interesting and a little extreme, but it is an idea worth considering. If nothing else, it shows that the game, besides being one of the greatest events I have witnessed in Egypt, did have implications far beyond soccer.
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