Egyptian court confirms death sentences given to 21 football fans for role in stadium riot State of emergency declared by Interior Ministry over police attack fears Fans will be put to death by hanging, a Cairo court confirmed today Fans of Cairo club Al-Ahly celebrate verdicts, mostly against fans of Al-Masry Egyptian Soccer Federation set alight as Al-Ahly fans welcome verdicts Five more defendants were sentenced to life in jail for their roles in the riot Remaining defendants received sentence of between one to 15 years 74 football fans died during match at Port Said stadium last February Fans of Cairo's Al-Ahly club have stormed Egypt's Soccer Federation headquarters and and set it on fire in anger after a court acquitted seven of nine police officials on trial for their alleged role in the Port Said stadium riot last year. The Egyptian interior ministry declared a state of emergency amid claims that jihadists could attack police, according to the state news agency. The twin fires sent plumes of thick black smoke billowing out over the Cairo skyline. Al-Ahly club supporters run away from smoke and flames rising from the police officers' club in Cairo today after several buildings in the complex were set on fire An injured security official is carried from a police officers' club in the neighborhood of Zamalek after protesters started fires following the stadium riot verdict in Cairo Policemen try to extinguish fire at a police club in Cairo started by protesters Smoke and fire rises from the Egyptian Soccer Federation in Cairo today Earlier today, a court in the city upheld the death sentences given to 21 football fans for their parts in the riot, which claimed 74 lives and left 1,000 people injured. Fire also swept through a nearby police club, but it was not immediately clear whether Al-Ahly fans were responsible for that blaze as well. Heavy black smoke billowed out of the rose-colored, three-storey neocolonial building in central Cairo. The court also sentenced two senior police officers to 15 years in prison, but acquitted the other seven security officials. Thousands of the club's fans had gathered to welcome the death penalty verdicts, mostly given to fans of rival club Al-Masry, who started the riot. They appeared divided on whether to welcome the verdicts or consider them flawed. Smoke rises from the police officers' club in Cairo today after it was torched by Al-Ahly fans Anger: Supporters of Al-Ahly react after the verdict in the Port Said stadium riot trial was announced Flames: In Cairo, Al-Ahly fans greeted the verdicts but violence soon erupted 'We came for the rulings on the defendants from the police,' said one fan who refused to give his name. Why should I be happy when most of them were acquitted? In a ruling shown on live television, the Cairo court also sentenced five more people to life in jail for their roles in the riot and acquitted 28. The remaining defendants received shorter jail sentences of between one to 15 years. The court also sentenced the city's former security chief, Major General Essam Samak, to 15 years in prison. Samak was the most senior of the nine security officials tried for their part in the riot. In Cairo there were celebrations but also anger at police officials walking free from court Al-Ahly fans shouted slogans against the Interior Ministry, which has declared a state of emergency, in front of the football club Al-Ahly fans congregated outside their club but the scenes later turned to violence Those sentenced to death, mostly fans of Port Said's Al-Masry club, will be hanged. The case has provoked deadly clashes in the Suez Canal city. Some 40 people died in riots after the death sentences were first announced on January 26, many shot by police. Many residents of Port Said, which is located on the Mediterranean at the northern tip of the Suez Canal, have seen the trial as unjust and politicised. Before the verdict, Al-Ahly fans gathered at the club in Cairo An Al-Ahly fan holds their hands to their head while wearing a mask as news of the verdict was broadcast on live television Football fans in the city have felt that authorities were biased in favor of Al-Ahly, Egypt's most powerful club. The final whistle of the match between Al-Masry and Al-Ahly on February 1 last year prompted more than 13,000 home fans, armed with knives, iron bars and machetes, to storm the pitch and attack rival Al-Ahly players and their 1,200 supporters. Authorities shut off the stadium lights after the game, plunging it into darkness. In the exit corridor, the fleeing crowd pressed against a chained gate until it broke open. Many were crushed under the crowd of people trying to flee. Unbelievable: A man reacts to the court's decision in Port Said today Law: Death sentences handed out in January were confirmed today by a court in Cairo and greeted with grief Others fell or were thrown from terraces. It was Egypt's worst football disaster. The response of Al-Ahly fans was at first muted compared to the wild celebrations following the January death sentences. In Port Said, a city that has for weeks been in open rebellion against the government of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, several hundred people, many of them relatives of the defendants, gathered outside the local government offices to vent their anger. Port Said has been the centre of the heaviest violence in the latest wave of unrest, which began on January 25, when hundreds of thousands across the country marked the second anniversary of the start of the uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak's regime two years ago. Watching on: People gathered in public venues to watch the court's decision The unrest has underlined worsening security in Egyptian cities since the 2011 overthrow of Mubarak, said the Associated Press. The Islamist government of President Mohamed Mursi is struggling to halt the slide in law and order, hampered by a strike by some protesting police. At least eight people have been killed in Port Said this week, including three policemen.