The 2011-12 Egyptian revolution thrust an unlikely group of young people into the country's political conscience: organized groups of soccer fans called "ultras."
(CNN) -- Since the fall of President Hosni Mubarak, Cairo is a city that has become addicted to the art of protest. But this protest wasn't like any of the others.
Outside a smart hotel in the city, several hundred well-appointed young men had gathered to express their frustrations at the new Egypt. Their livelihoods had been decimated since the revolution, they argued. And direct action was the only cure.
Except these young men were not bakers, or cab drivers, or stockbrokers, or former regime allies. They were professional soccer players, out of work and unpaid ever since 74 young fans died in a tragic incident at a match in Port Said in February and the domestic league was suspended.
In desperation they had decided to make their voices heard by blockading a hotel where players from Nigerian club Sunshine Stars were staying. It was a few hours before they were due to play Egypt's biggest and most successful soccer team Al Ahly in an African Champions League semifinal second leg.
They thought that if they could prevent the match from going ahead, Al Ahly would be disqualified and the authorities would take their plight seriously. But it didn't quite work out that way.
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"I heard shots ... at first I thought it was gunshots but it was tear gas shots," recalled Nigerian soccer journalist Colin Udoh, describing how the police had tried to deal with the situation.
"It was terrifying."
The players failed in their quest, but not because the police had cleared a path. That job had been achieved by a new group in Egyptian society that has entered the political conscience during the country's revolutionary times. It was members of the Ahlawy, an organized group of soccer fans -- known as "Ultras" -- who support Al Ahly that managed to escort the terrified players to the match.
"We only found out during rush hour that the players were having a march," said Mohamed, a member of the Ahlawy that led a group to "free" the Sunshine Stars players.
"We contacted each other by BBM and SMS and congregated. There were fights with the players. I think one of the players had a gun. They prevented the Sunshine players from going to the game. We had to let the game go on. We cleared the way for the bus."
The Ahlawy led the players to the bus and arranged an escort to the stadium.
"It is a unique position, to see fans with that much power," said Udoh.
"When the players were coming down the fans were applauding them. On the drive to the stadium 2,000 fans were lining the road applauding us. Inside the bus they didn't understand it. They thought they were angry with them."
Al Ahly won that match and reached this weekend's final of the African Champions League. It has been an emotional, tragic season for the club, one that has encompassed revolution, riots and death. And at the center of it all has been the Ahlawy, one of the last revolutionary forces left in Egypt today.
The group was formed in 2007, in the dark before the dawn, and is led by a man named Assad. Mubarak was as strong as he had ever been, winning a decisive victory in a recent Presidential election, even though massive fraud had allegedly taken place. His son Gamal was being groomed as his successor.
Khaled Gamal, 18, lives in Manshiyat Nasr, one of the poorest neighborhoods in Cairo, Egypt. He joined in some of the protests last year in Tahrir Square but says he couldn't afford to miss work too often to protest.
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Egypt felt hopeless. I had met Assad outside the KFC on Tahrir Square, long before it had become synonymous with this revolution. He had agreed to escort me to Egypt's biggest match: Al Ahly versus Zamalek, the Cairo derby.
Assad was young, fresh faced and passionate, with designer glasses perched on his nose. He was in his early 20s, fiercely intelligent, educated in England, and drove a BMW.
The Ahly Ultras (they would not be known as the Ahlawy for a few years yet) had only just formed but they were sure who the enemy was back then: Zamalek and their own ultra group, the UWK: the Ultras White Knights.
Assad stood on the terrace with his gang of no more than a few hundred screaming abuse at the opposition. Tens of thousands of riot police stood between the two groups, impenetrable. Plain-clothes officers randomly hauled out supporters, taking them away to be searched. It felt like martial law had been imposed.
"The two biggest political parties in Egypt are Ahly and Zamalek," Assad explained at the time.
"It's bigger than politics. It's more about escapism."
Violence had been contained to the two fan groups. There was no political edge. Instead, away from the tightly-controlled derbies, fighting flourished. Youth team matches were marred by riots.
"There's always horrible fights there," admitted Assad.
But then something began to shift. The Ahlawy's numbers grew. More people found a place to express their frustration at the suffocating regime of Mubarak. Each game became increasingly more political and anti-authoritarian.
The next time I meet Assad was 61 days after the fall of Mubarak in 2011. He and 7,000 members of the Ahlawy crowded into one end of Cairo's Military Stadium for the restart of the Egyptian football league.
Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, 84, is declared clinically dead on Tuesday, June 19, shortly after arriving at a military hospital in Cairo, according to Egypt's state-run news agency. A military official disputes the report and says Mubarak is in critical condition.
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Violence between politicized ultras and the police had gotten so bad that the Egyptian FA had suspended all matches, but after pleading that half the league would go bankrupt, the FA relented.
Hundreds of police officers dressed head to foot in black riot gear stood looking at the crowd as the men and boys in red gleefully reminded them and their former paymasters of their position in the new post-revolutionary Egypt.
"F*** the mother of Hosni Mubarak!" they shouted at the police.
"Go **** your (former Interior) Minister, Habib al Adly!"
Ironically their opposition on the pitch that day was Al Shorta, the police club.
This show of dissent would have been ruthlessly cut down a few months previously. But now Mubarak was under arrest in a hospital bed near the Red Sea, and al Adly now languished, along with the president's sons, the former prime minister and other members of the country's elite, in the same jail where he would send the former regime's political prisoners.
"Can you imagine? What must they all must be saying to each other," Assad, now no longer wearing his glasses, shouted over the deafening sound of abuse. "You could write a film about it. The police would abuse us every day. Now it's our time."
In the four years since they began, the Ahlawy had changed from a group aping European football culture to a major thorn in the former regime's side.
"The whole concept of any independent organization didn't exist, not unions, not political parties. Nothing was organized. And then we started to organize football ultras," Assad explained.
"It was just sport then. But to them it was the youth, in big numbers -- very smart people -- who could mobilize themselves quickly. They feared us."
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The Ahlawy soon grew into something more violent and anti-authoritarian. Members were arbitrarily beaten and arrested by the police. Fans were harassed by being strip-searched. Assad himself had been arrested and thrown in jail.
Ahly's matches provided a microcosm of the heavy-handedness that the rest of the country felt on a daily basis in Mubarak's Egypt. But unlike the activists and the other opposition groups that had been quickly neutered, the ultras fought back.
"The more they tried to put pressure on us, the more we grew in cult status. The ministry and the media, they would call us a gang, as violent," he said. "It wasn't just supporting a team, you were fighting a system and the country as a whole.
"We were fighting the police, fighting the government, fighting for our rights ... The police did what they wanted. The government did what they want. And the ultras taught us to speak our mind. This was something new, a little bit of a seed that was planted four years later."
The skills that Assad and Al Ahlawy had honed during four years of fighting the police came in handy when the January 25 revolution, and the "Day of Rage" that took place three days later, saw the confrontation between the authorities -- who had decades of experience quashing dissent -- and a wholly unprepared public turn violent.
"I don't want to say we were solely responsible for bringing down Mubarak," Assad laughed. "But our role was to make people dream, letting them know if a cop hits you, you can hit them back, not just run away.
"This was a police state. Our role started earlier than the revolution. During the revolution, there was the Muslim Brotherhood, the activists and the ultras. That's it."
Later, after the match, the Ahlawy would meet at a famous old bar off Tahrir Square called Horriya -- "Freedom" -- a yellowing relic to Egypt's liberal heyday where we drank one-dollar bottles of Stella -- the local beer -- and talked about the future.
Compared to the suffocating security of the past, there were no police or army on the street. A camp of activists still occupied Tahrir Square. People argued about politics on the street. Sometime it would end in fist fights. It was flawed and chaotic. But it was free.
Then came Port Said. As Egypt limped towards presidential elections, the ultras had become increasingly prominent. Al Ahly's distinctive red flag would be seen at marches as thousands of members would turn up, driving the chants and often bringing with them red flares.
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Al Ahly had won the restarted Egyptian league and had hoped to maintain that dominance when they traveled to Port Said to play Al Masr.
What happened next shocked the world. More than 70 young men were killed when the stand the Al Ahly supporters were in was attacked by opposition fans. The Ahlawy maintained that the deaths were not simply thuggery, but planned as revenge for their role in the revolution. The authorities deny those claims.
But as the trial of those the authorities claim are responsible drags on, the Ahlawy has used direct action to halt the resumption of the league until justice has been served. The threat of violence has meant that all African Champions League matches in Egypt have been held behind closed doors.
The paralysis has, on the one hand, shown the ultras to be a powerful force, one that the authorities seem unwilling to confront. On the other it has also led to the suspension of the league, which could have long-term effects not just on Al Ahly but the national team too.
Former U.S. national team coach Bob Bradley has spoken movingly about respecting the Port Said dead and the need for justice, but he too wants the league to resume. After all, he is charged with taking Egypt to the 2014 World Cup finals -- a dream he believes could have a unifying effect on the country.
Now the focus is on the African Champions League final against Esperance of Tunisia -- the defending champions. Al Ahly's journey towards a record-extending seventh ACL title has been nothing short of incredible given the problems back home. They even managed to get caught up in civil unrest in Mali when a coup took place earlier in the tournament.
But the Ahlawy will not be in the stadium for Sunday's home leg in Alexandria, despite the authorities allowing up to 20,000 fans to attend -- the first time that has happened since Port Said. They won't attend a match until they receive justice for the Port Said dead. That doesn't mean they won't be watching and willing their team on.
"That is how we want to honor the people that died at Port Said," said Mohammed, articulating the Ahlawy's complex position of protest, boycott and support.
"We honor them by winning this trophy."
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Groups of well organized soccer fans, numbering several thousand, came to prominence during the Battle of the Camels in Tahrir Square. Graffiti eulogizing the ultras covered most of the nearby walls.
Emboldened by their success, groups of ultras would attend and lead many of the post-Mubarak protests in Cairo against the military regime.
The most prominent group was the Ahlawy, the ultras of Al Ahly, Egypt's biggest and most successful club.
The Ahlawy was formed in 2007 as a way of showing better organized support for the team. But it soon became much more.
Such were their numbers that security was tight. Members would be arrested and revolutionary, anti-regime chants could be heard from the stands.
Post Mubarak in 2011, soccer returned to Egypt after a brief suspension of the league. In the security vacuum violence grew. In February this year, 74 fans of Al Ahly, many of them Ahlawy members, died in Port Said after they were attacked by rival fans in the stands.
The ultra groups claim that the deaths weren't the result of thuggery, as claimed by the authorities, but planned by the military as pay-back for their role in the revolution. The trial of over 70 people allegedly involved is ongoing.
Marches were held across Egypt to honor the dead. Here a member of the Ahlawy leads marchers in song in the northern city of Alexandria. The soccer league was canceled. In their aim to achieve justice for the dead, the Ahlawy has launched a successful direct action campaign against the restart of the soccer league until the trial of those accused of the Port Said tragedy is completed.
The lack of competitive soccer is just one of the many problems that has faced Egyptian national team coach Bob Bradley. The former coach of the U.S. men's team has been charged with taking Egypt to Brazil for the 2014 World Cup.
His first competitive match was a World Cup qualifier earlier this year. Fears of violence were so high, the match was played without fans in a remote military stadium outside Alexandria.
Despite the revolution and despite the team having played little or no football, Egypt won their first two World Cup qualifying matches.
Even more incredible has been the performance of Al Ahly in the African Champions League. Despite having no league, and having to play all their home games behind closed doors, the team has reached the two -leg final and is hoping for a seventh title overall.
Egyptian football fans rush on to the field during the clashes.
Flares are thrown in the stadium as tension builds throughout the game.
An Egyptian policeman intervenes as people try to separate rival football fans.
Egyptians gather outside the train station in Cairo as they wait for the arrival of people wounded at the match in Port Said.
Egyptian soldiers help a wounded football Al-Ahly fan after he arrived in Cairo on a military plane.
An Al-Masry fan invades the pitch during the match in Port Said.
Egyptians drive past Port Said Stadium, home of Al-Masry, on February 2, 2012.
A wounded Al-Masry fan is escorted by a medic and a friend following the clashes.
Egyptian medics wheel the body of a victim into a morgue in Cairo on February 2, 2012.
Egyptian women mourn victims of the riot at a morgue in Cairo on February 2.
Egyptian investigators inspect damage at the football stadium in Port Said on Thursday.
Family members and mourners gather at Cairo's railway station as they receive the bodies of football fans killed during clashes between rival fans in Port Said.
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Egyptians evacuate a wounded man during clashes on Friday.
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A family in Kashmir watches as students protest on Saturday.
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A Pakistani police officer fires an automatic weapon toward demonstrators during a protest Friday in Islamabad.
Pakistani riot police chase demonstrators Friday in Islamabad.
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Pakistani demonstrators carry an injured person on Thursday.
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A Pakistani lawyer wraps a U.S. flag onto his shoe in Islamabad on Wednesday.
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Pakistani lawyers shout anti-American slogans as they march Monday in Lahore.
Pakistani activists shout slogans in Islamabad on Sunday, September 16.
Pakistani protestors hold banners and shout anti-U.S. slogans in Karachi on Sunday.
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A protester climbs on a gate of the U.S. Consulate in Karachi, Pakistan, on Sunday.
Pakistani protesters march toward the U.S. Consulate in Karachi on Sunday.
Protesters attack a police van outside the U.S. Consulate in Karachi on Sunday.
Pakistani police fire tear gas shells toward the protesters in Karachi on Sunday.
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Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, head of Pakistan's outlawed Islamic hard-line group Jamaat ud Dawa, addresses supporters in Lahore on Sunday.
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Protesters clash with police on a street in Sydney's central business district on Saturday.
Indian policemen walk past smashed windows of the U.S. Consulate building, caused by a mob of demonstrators protesting against an anti-Islam film, in Chennai, India, on Friday, September 14.
Tunisian protesters try to storm the U.S. Embassy in Tunis on Friday.
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Yemeni riot policemen stand guard at a crossroad leading to the U.S. Embassy in Sanaa on Friday.
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Yemeni protesters shout during a demonstration near the U.S. Embassy in Sanaa on Friday.
Yemeni protesters run for cover from tear gas fired by riot police in Sanaa on Friday.
Jordanian protesters burn a U.S. flag near the U.S. Embassy in Amman on Friday.
Jordanian protesters shout in Amman on Friday.
Israeli police officers stand behind their shields during clashes with stone-throwing Palestinian protesters in a demonstration against an anti-Islam film in front of the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem's Old City on Friday.
Israeli police arrest a Palestinian protester on Friday.
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Supporters of Jamat ud Dawa shout during a protest against an anti-Islam video in Peshawar, Pakistan, on Friday.
A Muslim protester defaces a mural on a wall of the U.S. Consulate in the southern Indian city of Chennai on Friday.
Muslim protesters burn a U.S. flag outside the U.S. Consulate in the southern Indian city of Chennai on Friday.
Muslim protesters shout outside the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan, on Friday.
Pakistani soldiers hold back protesters attempting to reach the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad on Friday.
An Egyptian protester throws a tear gas canister toward riot police during clashes near the U.S. Embassy in Cairo on Friday.
A Sudanese demonstrator burns a German flag after torching the German Embassy in Khartoum on Friday.
Protesters throw stones toward riot police during clashes along a road leading to the U.S. Embassy near Tahrir Square in Cairo on Friday, September 14.
A riot police officer shouts a warning during clashes in Cairo on Friday.
Protesters chant during a march to the U.S. Embassy in Sanaa, Yemen, on Thursday, September 13. One protester was killed in clashes when Yemeni security forces dispersed hundreds of demonstrators who gathered around and inside the U.S. Embassy in Sanaa.
A protester shouts after sustaining injuries in a confrontation with riot police who fired tear gas outside the U.S. Embassy in Sanaa on Thursday.
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Palestinians protest the movie "Innocence of Muslims" in front of the Legislative Council in Gaza City on Thursday.
Iranian demonstrators chant anti-American slogans during a demonstration on Thursday in front of the Swiss Embassy, which serves as the U.S. interests section in Iran, in Tehran.
An Iranian police officer shows a victory sign during Thursday's demonstration in Tehran.
Supporters of Sunni Muslim Salafist leader Ahmad al-Assir burn Israeli and U.S. flags during a protest in Sidon, Lebanon, on Thursday.
Kuwaiti police stand guard as hundreds of demonstrators protest near the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait City on Thursday.
Arab-Israeli men wave green Islamic flags with the Muslim profession of belief: "There is no God but God and Mohammed is the prophet of God" during a protest in front of the U.S. Embassy on Thursday in Tel Aviv, Israel.
Egyptian protesters throw stones at riot police during clashes near the U.S. Embassy in Cairo on Thursday.
Riot police take cover from stones thrown by protesters on Thursday.
Egyptian protesters help a man who inhaled tear gas during clashes at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo on Thursday.
A burned-out pickup sits between Egyptian protesters and riot police in Cairo on Thursday.
Egyptian protesters take cover during clashes with riot police on Thursday.
An Egyptian protester wears a makeshift mask and helmet for protection while fighting riot police on Thursday.
Egyptian protesters run for cover from tear gas fired by riot police during clashes on Thursday.
An Egyptian riot police officer fires tear gas toward protesters during clashes Thursday with police near the U.S. Embassy in Cairo.
Iraqi protesters burn Israeli and U.S. flags during a protest Thursday. The U.S. ambassador to Libya, J. Christopher Stevens, and three others were killed during a protest outside the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, on Tuesday.
Egyptian protesters clash with riot police Thursday near the U.S. Embassy in Cairo.
Iranians protest against a film mocking Islam near the Swiss Embassy in Tehran on Thursday. Up to 500 people chanted "Death to America!" and death to the director of the movie, which was made in the United States. The demonstration ended peacefully in two hours.
An Egyptian protester throws a tear gas canister at riot police Thursday during clashes near the U.S. Embassy in Cairo.
Police use tear gas on crowds protesting Thursday outside the U.S. Embassy in Cairo.
The U.S. Consulate in Benghazi is seen in flames Tuesday, September 11.
A vehicle and the surrounding area are engulfed in flames after it was set on fire inside the compound on Tuesday.
A protester reacts as the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi is seen in flames Tuesday night.
Yemeni protesters gather around a fire Thursday during a demonstration outside the U.S. Embassy in the capital of Sanaa. Yemeni forces fired warning shots to disperse the thousands of protesters approaching the main gate of the mission.
Yemeni protesters try to break the security camera at the U.S. Embassy in Sanaa on Thursday.
Egyptians shout slogans during a protest in front of the U.S. Embassy in Cairo.
Egyptian protesters gather in front of the U.S. Embassy the morning after it was vandalized by protesters during a demonstration on Wednesday in Cairo.
Protesters shout outside the U.S. Embassy in Tunis, Tunisia, on Wednesday, September 12.
A group of protesters attend a demonstration outside the U.S. Embassy in Tunis on Wednesday.
A demonstrator walks on a U.S. flag during a Wednesday's demonstration at the U.S. Embassy in Tunis.
People inspect the damage at the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, on Wednesday, the day after four people were killed.
Egyptian demonstrators continue to stake out the U.S. Embassy in Cairo on Wednesday.
Police confront protesters praying in front of the U.S. Embassy in Casablanca, Morocco, during a rally against the anti-Islam film on Wednesday.
Moroccan women gather near the U.S. Embassy in Casablanca on Wednesday.
A Palestinian man holds a placard praising Islam's prophet Mohammed during a demonstration against the film on Wednesday in front of the United Nations headquarters in Gaza City.
Palestinian men burn the American flag during Wednesday's demonstration in Gaza City.
A man waves his rifle as buildings and cars are engulfed in flames inside the U.S. Consulate compound in Benghazi, Libya, late on Tuesday, September 11.
The U.S. Consulate in Benghazi is set on fire during a protest. Armed gunmen attacked the compound on Tuesday evening, clashing with Libyan security forces before the latter withdrew as they came under heavy fire.
Protesters destroy an American flag pulled down from the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, Egypt.
People stand around a drawing that says "Remember your black day 11 September" during the protest in Cairo.
People shout and light flares in front of the U.S. Embassy in Cairo.
People shout in front of the U.S. Embassy in Cairo.
Protesters pull down a U.S. flag.
Thousands were angered by the controversial film.
Demonstrators yell outside the U.S. Embassy.
Egyptian riot police stand guard as protesters climb down from the wall.
An Egyptian protester waves a black flag inscribed with the Muslim profession of faith -- "There is no God but God, and Mohammed is the prophet of God" -- as he stands above the door of the U.S. Embassy.
Protesters gather along the U.S. Embassy wall. Photos: Attack on the U.S. Consulate in Libya kills four or see more of CNN's best photography.
Then-Vice President Mubarak, left, joins President Anwar Sadat at a military parade on October 6, 1981, the day Islamic fundamentalists from within the army assassinated Sadat. Mubarak succeeded Sadat as Egypt's president, maintaining power for nearly three decades.
Eight days after Sadat's assassination, Mubarak is officially sworn in as Egypt's president on October 14, 1981. Mubarak was re-elected in 1987, 1993, 1999 and 2005.
Mubarak poses with U.S. President Ronald Reagan at the White House in 1982.
British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher meets with Mubarak in London in 1985.
Diana, Princess of Wales, visits Mubarak in 1992 during a trip to Egypt.
Mubarak and U.S. President Bill Clinton hold a joint press conference in 1995.
The front page of the Ethiopian Herald reports a foiled assassination attempt on Egypt's president on June 27, 1995. Mubarak survived an attempt by an al Qaeda-affiliated group in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Mubarak, third from left, joins President Bill Clinton, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, second from left, Jordan's King Hussein, third from right, and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, second from right, in Washington in 1995. The Israeli leader and Arafat signed maps representing the redeployment of Israeli troops in the West Bank.
Mubarak welcomes Pope John Paul II to Egypt for a three-day visit in 2000.
U.S. President George W. Bush greets Mubarak at the White House in 2002 to talk about the Middle East crisis and the war in Afghanistan.
In 2005, Mubarak again runs for a six-year term in the country's first multiparty presidential election. He was declared the official winner with about 88% of the vote, but many considered the election to be a sham.
After weeks of Egyptians protesting Mubarak's 29-year reign, the president steps down from office on February 11, 2011, causing celebrations in Cairo's Tahrir Square.
The ousted leader lies in a medical bed inside a cage in a courtroom during his verdict hearing in Cairo on June 2, 2012. A judge sentenced Mubarak to life in prison for his role in ordering the killing of protesters in the 2011 uprisings.
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