Over 100 dead as tear gas triggers soccer match crush

Investigation ordered into police procedures

Police firing tear gas after an Indonesian soccer match in an attempt to stop violence triggered a disastrous crush of fans making a panicked, chaotic run for the exits, leaving at least 125 people dead, most of them trampled upon or suffocated.

Attention immediately focused on police crowd-control measures at Saturday night’s match between host Arema FC of East Java’s Malang city and Persebaya Surabaya. Witnesses described officers beating them with sticks and shields before shooting tear gas canisters directly into the crowds.

It was among the deadliest disasters ever at a sporting event. President Joko Widodo ordered an investigation of security procedures, and the president of FIFA called the deaths “a dark day for all involved in football and a tragedy beyond comprehension.” While FIFA has no control over domestic games, it has advised against the use of tear gas at soccer stadiums.

Brawls are common among rival Indonesian soccer fans, so much so that the organizer had banned Persebaya supporters from Arema’s stadium. But violence still broke out when the home team lost 3-2 and some of the 42,000 Arema fans, known as “Aremania,” threw bottles and other objects at players and soccer officials.

Witnesses said the fans flooded the Kanjuruhan Stadium pitch and demanded that Arema management explain why, after 23 years of undefeated home matches against Persebaya, this one ended in a defeat. At least five police vehicles were toppled and set ablaze outside the stadium. Riot police responded by firing tear gas, including toward the stadium’s stands, causing panic among the crowd.

“The stadium turned into a smoke-filled battleground when police fired tear gas,” said Rizky, who goes by one name. He came with his cousin to watch the game.

“I felt hot and stinging in my eyes, I couldn’t see clearly while my head was dizzy and everything went dark … I passed out,” he said. When he woke up, he was already in the emergency room. He said his cousin died because of head injuries.

“We wanted to entertain ourselves by watching a football match, but we got disaster,” he said.

Another spectator, Ahmad Fatoni, said police had started beating the fans with sticks and shields, and they fought back. National Police chief Listyo Sigit Prabowo said the death toll had been revised to 125 from 174, after authorities found some of the victims were counted twice. More than 100 were receiving intensive treatment in eight hospitals, 11 of them in critical condition.

East Java police chief Nico Afinta defended the use of tear gas.

“We have already done a preventive action before finally firing the tear gas as (fans) began to attack the police, acting anarchically and burning vehicles,” he told a news conference early Sunday.

Indonesia’s soccer association, known as PSSI, suspended the premier soccer league Liga 1 indefinitely in light of the tragedy and banned Arema from hosting soccer matches for the remainder of the season.

At the Vatican, Pope Francis said he was praying for “those who have lost their lives and for the wounded following clashes that erupted after a soccer game in Malang, Indonesia.”