A boy was shot dead when Egyptian forces clashed with football fans protesting against a ban on their club over a stadium riot that killed dozens last month, officials said on Saturday.
Security officials said the boy was 13 years old, and that another 18 Al-Masry football club supporters were injured in the violence that broke out overnight in Port Said. The official Al-Ahram newspaper reported that the boy was shot in the back. By Saturday morning, the protesters had blocked routes into Port Said, witnesses said, creating traffic jams for several kilometres (miles) outside the Mediterranean city.
The protest erupted after the Egyptian Football Association banned Al-Masry from playing for two years and cancelled matches at Port Said stadium for three years, the newspaper reported.
Three club officials are among 75 people facing trial over the stadium riot that killed more than 70 fans at the end of a match between Al-Masry and Cairo rivals Al-Ahly on February 2, in one of the sport’s deadliest incidents.
