MALANG, Indonesia — At least 125 people died
at an Indonesian football stadium when thousands of angry home fans invaded the
pitch and police responded with tear gas that triggered a stampede, authorities
said Sunday.
اضافة اعلان
The tragedy on Saturday night in the city of
Malang,
which also left 323 injured according to police, was one of the world’s
deadliest sporting stadium disasters.
Arema FC supporters at the Kanjuruhan stadium
stormed the pitch after their team lost 3-2 to the visiting team and bitter
rivals, Persebaya Surabaya.
Police, who described the unrest as “riots”, said
they tried to force fans to return to the stands and fired tear gas after two
officers were killed.
Many of the victims were trampled or choked to
death, according to police.
At least 125 people died, East Java Deputy Governor
Emil Dardak told broadcaster Metro TV on Sunday evening, significantly lowering
officials’ earlier death toll of 174 because of double counting.
“Some names were recorded twice because they had
been referred to another hospital and were written down again,” he said, citing
data collected by local police from 10 hospitals.
Survivors described panicking spectators in a packed
crowd as tear gas rained down on them.
President
Joko Widodo ordered an investigation into
the tragedy, a safety review into all football matches and directed the
country’s football association to suspend all matches until “security
improvements” were completed.
A hospital director told local TV that one of the
victims was five years old.
Images taken from inside the stadium during the
stampede showed police firing huge amounts of tear gas and people clambering
over fences.
Amnesty International called for an investigation
into why tear gas was deployed in a confined space, saying it should only be
used “when other methods have failed”.
People carried injured spectators through the chaos
and survivors lugged lifeless bodies out of the stadium.
Enduring violence
Video footage circulating on
social media showed people shouting obscenities at police, who were holding
riot shields and wielding batons.
Torched vehicles,
including a police truck, littered the streets outside the stadium on Sunday
morning.
The stadium holds 42,000 people and authorities said
it was a sell-out. Police said 3,000 people stormed the pitch.
Fan violence is an enduring problem in Indonesia,
where deep rivalries have previously turned into deadly confrontations.
Arema FC and Persebaya Surabaya are longtime rivals.
Persebaya Surabaya fans were not allowed to buy
tickets for the game due to fears of violence.
However Indonesia’s coordinating minister for
political, legal, and security affairs, Mahfud MD, said organizers ignored a
recommendation to print fewer tickets and hold the match in the afternoon
instead of the evening.
On Sunday, Arema fans threw flower petals at the
club’s lion mascot monument outside the stadium in tribute to the victims.
In Jakarta as many as 300 football fans, including
some known as diehard “ultras”, gathered for a candlelit vigil outside the
Gelora Bung Karno stadium, Indonesia’s biggest. Some chanted “Murderer!” and
set off firecrackers.
Football world mourns
The football world mourned the disaster with Gianni Infantino, president
of world football governing body FIFA, calling the stampede “a tragedy beyond
comprehension”.
Manchester United and Barcelona posted tributes
online while Spanish football clubs were to observe a minute’s silence before
matches on Sunday as a mark of respect.
The German football association and Italy’s Serie A
also tweeted their condolences.
The
Asian Football Confederation, the governing body
for football in the region, expressed its regret at the loss of life.
The Football Association of Indonesia (PSSI) was in
touch with FIFA about the stampede and hoped to avoid sanctions, PSSI secretary
general Yunus Yussi told a press conference.
FIFA’s safety guidelines prohibit the carrying of
crowd control gas by police or stewards at pitchside.
Indonesia is to host the
FIFA Under-20 World Cup in
May.
It is also bidding to replace China as host of the 2023
Asian Cup alongside South Korea and Qatar, with a decision due this month.
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