The death toll at an Indonesian soccer match has climbed up to 174, most of whom were trampled to death in a stampede.
But how did it even happen?
On Saturday evening (1 Oct), riots broke out after a game ended with host Arema FC of East Java’s Malang City lost to Persebaya of Surabaya 3-2.
It was the team’s first defeat after 23 consecutive years of undefeated house games.
To you, it’s just soccer. To the fans, it was everything.
Thousands of supporters of Arema, known as “Aremania”, showed their dismay with the results by hurling bottles and other objects at players and soccer officials.
Videos surfaced from the match also showed fans streaming towards the Kanjuruhan Stadium pitch in protest.
The rioting wasn’t just in the stadium either.
It spread outside the stadium as well, where at least five police vehicles were overturned and set aflame.
The riot police’s response to this?
Firing tear gas. Everywhere, including towards the stadium’s stands, causing the crowd to fly into a panic.
By the way, here’s a fact you probably didn’t know: Tear gas is banned at soccer stadiums by FIFA. (and rightfully so)
As hundreds of people rushed from the stands to the exits in order to avoid the tear gas, a large number of unfortunate fans were brutally trampled on. Others suffocated.
It was pandemonium.
In the midst of this chaos, 34 died at the stadium, including two officers. It was later reported that a five-year-old child was amongst the fatalities from the stampede.
Some supporters who appeared to be unconscious were also seen to be carried away by other fans.
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In a news conference, East Java Police Chief Nico Afinta said that tear gas was fired only as a final resort as fans began to attack officers and damage cars.
“It had gotten anarchic,” the police chief said.
From footage that has emerged from the match, it also appears that members of the military were present at the arena as well.
The Aftermath
More than 300 were rushed to hospitals, but a large number drew their last breaths on the way to the hospital or during treatment.
East Java’s Vice Governor Emil Dardak said in an interview on Sunday that more than 100 injured people are receiving intensive treatment in eight different hospitals free of charge.
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Indonesia’s president, Joko Widodo, also expressed his condolences for the dead in televised remarks on Sunday.
“I deeply regret this tragedy and I hope this is the last soccer tragedy in this country,” Widodo said.
“We must continue to maintain sportsmanship, humanity and a sense of brotherhood of the Indonesian nation”.
The president ordered for the soccer match and its relevant security procedures to be evaluated.
Indonesia’s soccer association, PSSI, was also ordered to temporarily suspend Liga 1, Indonesia’s top league, until security procedures are improved.
PSSI has also banned Arema from hosting soccer matches for the rest of the season.
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Ferli Hidayat, the local police chief of Malang, said that there were some 42,000 spectators at the game on Saturday, all of whom were Arema fans.
This is not the first clash between the supporters of the two rival soccer teams. In an effort to avoid brawls, the organiser had banned Persebaya fans from entering the stadium.
The worst thing is, brawls between supporters of rival soccer teams are not uncommon in Indonesia.
In what seems to a soccer-obsessed country, hooliganism is everywhere. In 2018, a mob of hardcore fans of Persib Bandung killed a supporter of a rival club Persija Jakarta.
Yet, Saturday’s game proves itself to be among the world’s deadliest crowd disasters, taking more lives and casualties than even the Estadio Nacional disaster in 1964.
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In the Estadio Nacional disaster, an unpopular decision by the referee outraged Peruvian fans, sparking a riot where 328 were reported dead afterwards.
Indonesia’s soccer stampede now ranks pretty close to that disaster.
Indonesia is scheduled to host the FIFA under-20 World Cup next year, and is also one of the three countries bidding to stage the 2023 AFC Asian Cup after China pulled out as hosts.
With any luck, such a disaster won’t repeat itself.
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