Flares are thrown in the stadium during clashes that erupted after a football match between Egypt's Al-Ahli and Al-Masry teams in Port Said, 220 kilometers northeast of Cairo, on Wednesday. Photo: AFP

Egyptians incensed by the deaths of 74 people in clashes at a soccer stadium staged protests Thursday as fans and politicians accused the ruling generals of failing to prevent the deadliest incident since former president Hosni Mubarak was overthrown.

Young men blocked roads near the state television building and the capital's landmark Tahrir Square, and a crowd gathered at Cairo's main rail station hoping to see relatives returning from the game in Port Said.

As covered bodies from Egypt's worst soccer disaster were unloaded from trains, thousands chanted "Down with military rule."

At least 1,000 people were injured in the violence on Wednesday evening, when soccer fans invaded the pitch in the Mediterranean city after local team al-Masry beat visitors from Cairo's Al Ahli, Egypt's most successful club.

Hundreds of al-Masry supporters surged across the pitch to the visitors' end and panicked Ahli fans dashed for the exit. But the steel doors were bolted shut and dozens were crushed to death in the stampede, witnesses said.

"The military council wants to prove that the country is heading toward chaos and destruction. They are Mubarak's men. They are applying his strategy when he said 'choose me or choose chaos,'" said Mahmoud el-Naggar, 30, a laboratory technician and member of the Coalition of Revolutionary Youth in Port Said.

Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, 76, who heads the ruling military council, took the unusual step of speaking by telephone to a television channel owned by Al Ahli, vowing to track down the culprits.

The army announced three days of national mourning.

"I deeply regret what happened at the football match in Port Said. I offer my condolences to the victims' families," Tantawi said in comments broadcast on state television.

"The people want the execution of the field marshal," fans chanted at the Cairo rail station.

"We will secure their rights, or die like them," they said as covered bodies were unloaded from the trains.

Tantawi said a fact-finding committee would be set up and pledged that the army's plan to hand over power to civilians would not be derailed.

"Egypt will be stable. We have a roadmap to transfer power to elected civilians. If anyone is plotting instability in Egypt they will not succeed," he told Al Ahli's channel.

Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim said 47 people were arrested and Prime Minister Kamal al-Ganzouri held an emergency meeting of his security council that includes Ibrahim and a military representative.

Reuters