AP
Egyptians pray during a mass funeral in Port Said today.
PORT SAID, Egypt — Clashes flared anew in the turbulent Egyptian city of Port Said on Sunday, killing at least three more people as a mass funeral was held for most of the 37 people who died during intense riots in the city a day earlier.
The three were killed when police exchanged fire with gunmen trying to storm two police stations and the local prison, according to the city's director of hospitals, Abdel-Rahman Farah. A total of 418 people were injured, some of them with gunshot wounds, he said.
Tens of thousands of mourners poured into the streets for the mass funeral of those killed a day earlier, chanting slogans against Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.
"We are now dead against Morsi," said Port Said activist Amira Alfy. "We will not rest now until he goes and we will not take part in the next parliamentary elections. Port Said has risen and will not allow even a semblance of normalcy to come back," she said.
Violence in the city, about 140 miles northeast of Cairo, erupted on Saturday after a court convicted and sentenced 21 defendants to death for their roles in a mass soccer riot in a Port Said stadium on Feb. 1, 2012 that left 74 dead. Most of those sentenced to death were local soccer fans from Port Said.
The clashes in Port Said were the latest in a bout of unrest across the country that has left more than 50 people dead since Friday. That death toll includes 40 dead in Port Said and 11 killed in clashes in other cities between police and protesters marking the second anniversary of the uprising that overthrew Mubarak after nearly 30 years of authoritarian rule.
The riots stemmed mostly from animosity between police and die-hard Egyptian soccer fans, known as Ultras, who have become highly politicized. The Ultras frequently confront police and were also part of the uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak's regime two years ago.
They were also at the forefront of protests against the military rulers who took over from Mubarak and are now again on the front lines of protests against the Morsi, the country's first freely elected leader.
A prominent Islamist leader delivered a thinly veiled warning that Islamist groups would set up militia-like vigilante groups to protect public and state property against attacks.
Addressing a news conference, Tareq el-Zomr of the once-jihadist Gamaa Islamiya, said:
"If Security forces don't achieve security, it will be the right of the Egyptian people and we at the forefront to set up popular committees to protect private and public property and counter the aggression on innocent citizens."
