In what has come as shocking news from Indonesian football, more than 130 people have died as a result of a stampede at the football ground. The incident took place on Saturday when Afema FC clashed with Persebaya Surabaya in East Java. The game finished with a loss to the home team (2-3) following which the fans stormed the pitch in a show of anger.
Police had to retort to the use of tear gas in order to control the crowd. This is when things went south as the tightly packed crowd (41,000) in a 38, 000-seater stadium ran for the exit.
Following the stampede, many were trampled over and suffocated near a small exit that had turned into a bottleneck. There is confusion about the death toll as many sources have put different numbers. National Human Rights Commission said 153 people while the Arema football club claims it to be 182.
#WATCH | At least 127 people died after violence at a football match in Indonesia, last night. The deaths occurred when angry fans invaded a football pitch after a match in East Java
(Video source: Reuters) pic.twitter.com/j7Bet6f9mE
— ANI (@ANI) October 2, 2022
After the incident, Nico Afinta, police chief of East Java said, “It had gotten anarchic. They started attacking officers, they damaged cars,” he said. He also reported that two police officers were also killed in the riot. “We would like to convey that… not all of them were anarchic. Only about 3,000 who entered the pitch,” he said.
Fleeing fans “went out to one point at the exit. Then there was a build-up, in the process of accumulation there was shortness of breath, lack of oxygen”, he added.
Horrific videos of people climbing fences and running around to escape the tear gas have surfaced on social media. Many videos also show lifeless bodies on the ground in the aftermath of the incident.
Civil unrest has followed after the deadly incident and many have taken to the streets. Some videos have recently surfaced on social media that show police stations being vandalised and government offices being targeted. Notably, FIFA has banned the usage of “crowd-controlling gases” inside the stadiums.
#Breaking: Just in – Reports that protests are breaking out near a police station in #Indonesia, after people found out that riot police tear gassed 127 people to death between a football match of Arema and Persebaya. pic.twitter.com/7SrRRUI95S
— Sotiri Dimpinoudis (@sotiridi) October 1, 2022
The Indonesian football association (PSSI) has suspended football matches for a week and has said it had launched an investigation into the incident. Additionally, Indonesia president Joko Widodo has asked to evaluate security and football matches.
“I regret that this tragedy occurred,” Mr Joko said. “And I hope this is the last football tragedy in the country.”
