Protests bring Port Said to standstill

Residents protested last month after death sentences were issued 21 local youths for their part in a deadly football riot last February which saw 72 people die.

Those protests turned violent and security forces opened fire on protesters and then again at funerals the following day.

President Mohammed Morsi imposed a curfew after the violence which is now being publicly flouted.

Families of the victims camped out overnight in Shohada Square in front of local government buildings.

Port Said shipyard workers continued their sit-in today while local football fans known as ultras blocked the road to massive seaport Sharq al-Tafrea.

Thousands marched in support of a general strike called by ultras and students on Tuesday.

The protests in the city at the mouth of the Suez Canal have so far not stopped ships using the economically vital waterway.

But navigation workers issued a statement issuing solidarity with calls for the prosecution of Port Said security chief Mohsen Radi and Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim and threatening to strike if those demands weren't met.

Civil disobedience spread to Ismalia, further down the canal, where protesters called for the goals of "the revolution" of 2011 to be met.

And opposition activists in the Nile Delta city Kafr al-Sheikh promised to kick off action unless the creeping influence of the Muslim Brotherhood on the government is halted.