As Crisis Deepens in Egypt After Ruling on Riot, Calls for a Military Coup

As the city braced for a court ruling on Saturday about responsibility for a deadly riot last year at a match between Port Said and Cairo, security forces fled the city and turned over their burned-out headquarters — as well as sole responsibility for public safety — to the military. The few local police stations where staff was still present “suspended” their work, officers said, in what appeared to be part of a widening strike by police and security forces across the country.

The crisis in Port Said began in late January with a verdict similar to the one issued Saturday: a court sentenced 21 local soccer fans to death for their role in a riot at match against a team for Cairo.

That decision set off a month of lethal clashes with security forces that killed at least four police officers and more than 40 civilians. It also prompted the president to deploy the military to protect Port Said’s Suez Canal port and other vital facilities.

On Saturday the court reaffirmed the death sentences and added a verdict that only increased the anger in the streets. It convicted two senior security officials, sentencing both to 15 years in jail for negligence, but it acquitted seven police officers and two officials of the Port Said soccer club.

However, with the police all but gone, crowds that had vowed revenge were unsure where to vent their rage. Along with wailing relatives of those sentenced to die, hundreds of Port Said residents gathered in the square opposite the empty security headquarters, which was badly damaged by flames and pockmarked with broken windows from a weeklong siege by protesters. “The whole city comes to the streets!” one man shouted.

But the crowd was confused. “We don’t know what to do!” one man shouted. “We want a police officer to kill, a soldier to rip apart.” Another screamed in frustration: “They took the police outside the city so we will bang our heads against the wall!”

When some in the crowd moved toward soldiers, a row of civilians linked hands and held back the mob. “The army and the people are one hand,” they chanted, reprising the mantra of the early days after the ouster of Hosni Mubarak, when protesters applauded the military for taking over to bring him down.

Handmade banners around the city echoed the sentiments. “Port Said is in the protection of the military,” read one notice signed by “the people of Port Said.”

And the military hung banners that appeared to take the side of the residents against the police. “The Armed Forces share the people’s grief for the martyrs of Port Said,” one military sign declared.

The mob surged toward the Suez Canal, determined to lash out at that pillar of the Egyptian state and economy. But the protesters needed a ferry ride to get to the working port on the other side. Two coast guard vessels blocked attempts to commandeer a fishing boat.

Several soldiers looked on. But they did not interfere as the crowd burned the ring of tires cushioning two piers. Nor did the mob harass the soldiers.

In interviews and overheard debates, angry residents gave a mix of reasons for their refusal to take on the soldiers. Some were grateful that the military’s takeover had ended the deadly clashes. Others feared the military, with heavy weapons and professional troops, far more than they feared the police. And others were impatient that the military had not yet taken over the whole country.

“We are asking for a coup d’état!” said Fatma El-Nabawy, 40, as a crowd around her nodded.

Mohamed El-Gaabawy, 26, acknowledged the incongruity of calling for a military coup just months after demanding the generals’ exit. He said he put his hope in the new defense minister, General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who has shown less interest in permanent political power.

When General Ahmed Wasfi, in charge of the military’s operations in Port Said, arrived Friday night, a crowd cheered him. “What are you waiting for, sir?” they asked.

The army had come “to secure the area, not to replace the interior ministry,” General Wasfi told them.

But he sounded a little like a mayor, enlisting civilian volunteers to help restore order and clean up the debris. “I want Port Said to look as beautiful as a bride tonight,” he said. “Shops must not close. People and weddings must come back. The normal work must return. People must see what Port Said is.”

In Cairo, hard-core soccer fans initially cheered the death sentences to their rivals in Port Said but then shifted to anger at the police acquittals. They burned the headquarters of the Egyptian soccer federation and the ornate Police Officers Club, a complex of pink buildings including a restaurant, a wedding hall and a hotel.

“Step aside! We are here for the police,” the soccer fans storming the club told its staff. The police were nowhere to be found during the attack, and employees said that many of the club’s members had stayed home in anticipation of violence after the verdict.

Later, on the other side of the Nile, rioters attacked the Semiramis Intercontinental hotel. At least three were killed in clashes with the police.

The few police still in Port Said appeared to hide inside their stations. In one, Lt. Mohamed Gamal, in plain clothes, said the local police had decided to “suspend” their work in solidarity. The officers had taken only “humanitarian complaints” for a week, he said. “We are tired of confronting the people.”

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David D. Kirkpatrick reported from Port Said, and Kareem Fahim from Cairo. Mayy El Sheikh contributed reporting from Port Said. The New York Times