Members of Zamalek Club will on Saturday organize a silent protest inside the club in solidarity with members of Ultras White Knights and to call for the departure of the current club board led by Mamdouh Abbas.
Club members called for a signature-gathering campaign to officially withdraw confidence in Abbas. They plan to then submit their petition to Sports Minister Taher Abu Zeid.
Ultras White Knights held Zamalek’s board responsible for clashes that erupted at the club on Thursday as well as for the football team’s loss to Ahly which helped it qualify for the African Champions League semifinals at the expense of Zamalek.
They accused the board of letting go of key players, failing to pay the players’ salaries and taking decisions unilaterally.
One of the Ultras White Knights leaderships said the current board has lost its legitimacy, adding that Saturday will be the beginning of the end of eight years of shame for this great club.
“We will not allow further humiliation of the club,” he said.
They also do not want the current board to continue after its term ends in September.
Several of the prominent members of the club, including two former presidents of the club, Ahmed Mostafa, a former football player and media professional Fahmy Omar called for the formation of a “committee of wise men” to mediate appeasement.
Medhat al-Adl, a poet, expressed solidarity with the planned protest and said, “Even though I denounce the violence that erupted on Thursday, I still hold Abbas and his incompetent board responsible for it.”
Adl expressed surprise at how Abbas insists to stay even though everyone wants him to go after he caused group games to fail and overwhelmed the club with debts.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
