Students Speak Out About Egyptian Soccer Riot

Reactions to the bloody incidentby Mai Sabour.Three weeks ago, a soccer game in Egypt turned into a blood match.  A few minutes after the game, brawling fans stormed onto the field. In the aftermath, 140 died and 1, 000 were injured.Weeks later, CCNY students continue to react to the horror. Graduate student Ahmed Radii, 22, watched the match at work.  Later, he found out a friend had died in the incident “I got shocked and I cried because his mom said to me I want my son,” Radii recalls.Radii says his friend, who he'd known since they were boys in Alexandria, was thrown off the stadium, falling 70 feet. He believes the Supreme Council of Armed Forces known as “S.C.A.F.” triggered the violence. He says he hopes that eventually justice is served. "I wanted to go back to Egypt and take his rights," Radii says.Karim Elhaies, 19, also lost a friend during the riot. He was at CCNY’s library watching the game. “When I saw the crowds coming down like ants I knew it was going to be World War 3,” says Elhaies. “It was very abnormal for a game to even continue with these kinds of fans!”Elhaies heard what happened to his friend, who he met in high school, the morning after his accident.  “My friend Mohamed was stampeded over while trying to escape,” says Elhaies.  “I loved him so much and enjoyed hanging out with him," continues Elhaies sadly.CCNY graduate student Moataz Ahmed Eissa calls the incident "a black moment in soccer history. “Fortunately I didn’t have friends who died, but I knew friends of my friends who went and died,” says Eissa, 23, who watched the game from home. “Most of them were either thrown off, killed, or suffocated from the smoke. These people saw death with their bare eyes; this is something that no one will ever forget!”