Islamists are escalating their criticism of Egyptian authorities in the wake of a football match riot in Port Said that left 74 dead and hundreds injured.
A prominent Salafi political organization is holding the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces fully responsible for the Port Said violence, which began after the local team, Masry, defeated Cairo's leading club, Ahly, on Wednesday evening. And the Muslim Brotherhood's supreme guide said Thursday night that security authorities must be held accountable for the Port Said deaths.
SCAF head Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi's call for people to face the security void in the country on their own indicates that the military is incapable of securing the country and has opened the door to confrontations between citizens, said the Salafi Front in a statement published on its Facebook page Thursday.
“Attempts to repeat the Pakistani scenarios of chaos and civil strife, which occurred while US Ambassador Anne Patterson ― currently the US ambassador to Cairo ― was serving there, is not possible in Egypt,” read the statement. “These attempts are doomed to fail considering the awareness of the Egyptian people.”
The statement also called on the SCAF to issue a decree within 48 hours specifying the date for the presidential election, saying it should take place immediately following elections for the Parliament's upper house, the Shura Council, which are ongoing.
The elected People's Assembly should force the cabinet to set a timetable for announcing the names of all responsible for the violent incidents nationwide since the resignation of former President Hosni Mubarak last February, then bring them to trial.
The statement also called on the government to dismiss the public prosecutor and appoint a legal authority in his place who can restore the Egyptian people's confidence that efficient trials will be held for Mubarak and other figures of his corrupt regime.
Also on Thursday, Brotherhood Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie called for a national conference to discuss how to pull Egypt out of its current national crisis.
In a speech televised on the Egypt 25 satellite channel, Badie said that the Port Said incident should not pass by without people being held accountable, noting that none have been held accountable and martyrs have not been revenged for the many disasters that have hit Egypt during its transitional period.
Badie said the perpetrators of the Port Said disaster must be held politically and criminally responsible for what happened, as covering up murder is no longer tolerated in Egypt.
The Port Said incident clearly demonstrates Egypt's security void and that police are reluctant to perform their duties, Badie said, adding that the Interior Ministry must be held accountable and restructured.
He also demanded that the former officials who killed protesters during the 25 January uprising being held in Tora Prison be treated like all other prisoners and that authorities immediately transfer Mubarak to a prison hospital and expedite his trial.
