Egypt football riot: three dead as protests continue in Cairo The protesters' key demand is that the ruling army council, led by Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, hand over power to civilian rule. They also blame the army for the deaths of 74 people, mainly football fans, in a pitch invasion on Wednesday night in Port Said between the local team Al-Masry and the Cairo club Al-Ahly. Two more protesters were killed as a mob tried to storm a police station in the city of Suez. Security forces defending it opened fire with live rounds, according to reports. Protests had been planned for Friday, the regular day of demonstrations across the Arab world, but they were intensified by the football riot. Fans, along with elected members of parliament, accuse the authorities of at best negligence and at worst instigating the attack. The young revolutionary activists claim the army is keen to promote Egypt's growing reputation for lawlessness so as to justify authoritarian rule and a continuing role for the generals. The demonstration at the interior ministry began on Thursday night, as thousands of football fans and other protesters congregated at the Al-Ahly club's base and marched on the ministry, which was defended by a thin line of security sheltering behind barbed wire. At one stage, a soldier was pulled into the crowd and beaten, though later rescued. It is not clear how the soldier who died was injured. A wall of large concrete blocks, erected as a first line of defence after previous protests in November ended in lethal violence, was pulled down overnight. The protests resumed in strength on Friday afternoon, with volleys of stones being met with tear gas in return.