Football deaths raise stakes for Egyptian President el-Sisi

A recent stampede in which at least 19 Egyptian football ultras due to the actions of security forces suggests that the government of General-turned-President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has no intention of easing its crackdown on political dissent.

The incident, the worst in Egyptian sporting history after the death of 74 fans in a politically loaded brawl three years ago in the Suez Canal city of Port Said, nonetheless raises the stakes for the government because it involves groups that project themselves as non-political but have proven themselves in years of clashes with security forces, primarily in Egyptian stadia.

The death of the fans in Cairo moreover dealt a lethal blow to government efforts to weaken the militant fans or ultras by partially lifting in early February a ban on spectator attendance of football matches imposed since Premier League matches suspended after the Port Said brawl were allowed to resume.

The government's immediate blaming of the Ultras White Knights (UWK), the militant support group of storied Cairo club Zamalek SC, suggests that it may use the incident to push ahead with efforts to outlaw the ultras, who played a key role in the 2011 popular revolt that toppled President Hosni Mubarak as well as protests against subsequent military rule, the elected government of Mohamed Morsi that was overthrown by a military coup in 2013, and the el-Sisi government.

Egyptian media have in the last 18 months repeatedly sought to portray the ultras as violent thugs who were being funded by unidentified political forces, a reference to Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood that was outlawed in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates after the coup.

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