Egypt's Port Said simmers against ruling Islamists

AFP - The headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood in Port Said stand defaced and abandoned, in a city that was once a bastion of the Brotherhood but is now a thorn in the side of Egypt's ruling Islamists.

The Suez Canal city erupted in January after a court sentenced 21 residents to death for their involvement in a deadly football stadium riot and threatens to blow up again Saturday when the court sentences the remaining defendants.

The city had long complained of marginalisation by the central government, a misgiving shared by other regions in the country of 83 million people.

But Port Said's isolation increased after a February 2011 football stadium riot killed killed 74 people, mostly fans of the visiting Cairo Al-Ahly team.

Residents complain the defendants sentenced in January were scapegoats, accusing Islamist President Mohamed Morsi's government of exploiting them to quiet the well-organised and sometimes violent Cairo football fans who threatened violent protests if the defendants were exonerated.

source @ http://www.france24.com/en/20130309-egypts-port-said-simmers-against-ruling-islamists