"Fans died in the arms of the players": new details are revealed about the disaster in Indonesia
The moments of horror, the violence of the police, the crushed children, the frightened players in the dressing rooms.
18 police officers are being investigated following the disaster on the football field, in demonstrations in the country the police are called "murderers".
All that is known about the tragedy
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sport
03/10/2022
Monday, October 3, 2022, 2:16 p.m. Updated: 2:25 p.m.
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Indonesia: 129 people were killed and 180 were injured in a riot at a football stadium.
October 2, 2022 (Reuters News Agency)
At the same time as the national mourning for the disaster, in Indonesia they are demanding answers and to understand what exactly led to the great disaster in the football game, which has already become one of the worst disasters in the history of sports.
On Saturday night, thousands of fans stormed the pitch and onto the grass after the home team lost a match at the Canjurohan Stadium in Malang, East Java.
The police responded by spraying tear gas.
In the great panic and trying to escape, people were trampled and crushed in the exits.
At least 125 people were killed in the disaster, including dozens of children, the youngest of whom was 3. According to other reports, the death toll is much higher.
Several fans died in the arms of the players they had come to cheer on just hours earlier, a team coach revealed.
"I remember the moments of horror," said Sergio Silva, the Portuguese star of the home team, Arma FC.
"Police cars are on fire, everything is broken, swarms of blood, people's shoes... People were desperate, they saw bodies around them and tried to escape," he told the Portuguese sports newspaper,
The authorities opened an investigation today (Monday) following the accusations of scandalous conduct by the police.
At least 18 police officers are being investigated for their actions in the field.
The stadium where the disaster occurred in Indonesia (Photo: GettyImages, Ulet Ifansasti)
The stadium where the disaster occurred in Indonesia (Photo: GettyImages, Ulet Ifansasti)
Indonesia: 129 people were killed and 180 were injured in a riot at a football stadium.
October 2, 2022 (Photo: Reuters)
What led to the disaster?
Even before the game, there were concerns about the meeting between home team Arema FC and old rivals, Persebaya Surabaya, another team based in East Java - as there was a history of violence among the fans.
That's why extra precautions have been put in place - including the deployment of more security forces "as a preventive measure", according to Mike Ira Posfita, the deputy general secretary of the Indonesian Football Association.
The authorities also banned Persabaya fans from attending the game.
That is, only the home crowd was present in the stadium - 42 thousand crowded and excited people.
When the game ended, Arma lost 3:2, "and that's the point where some of the fans broke into the court, and it went downhill fast from there," Posfita said.
It is not clear what happened next, but here is the controversy.
The authorities meanwhile are not ready to report on the chronological sequence of the events in the field.
What is known is that after the final whistle, Arma fans moved to the field, where the team's footballers gathered in the middle.
Sergio Silva said many of those who broke into the pitch had apparently come to "show support, not attack".
But when the situation escalated, the players returned to the dressing rooms.
At one point the police started firing tear gas into the crowd in order to disperse the thousands of people.
According to the evidence, the tear gas was fired in large quantities, continuously and quickly.
According to eyewitnesses, the police were unnecessarily "cruel and violent" - and at the same time as the burning gas clouds, the police beat fans with batons.
The gas, the violence and the commotion led to a mass exodus of fans towards the narrow exits of the stadium.
Thousands began charging at each other, while many were gassed, further increasing the pressure on the gates.
Many fans even started trying to break the walls of the stadium and the wall to try to escape.
The heavy pressure on the closed gates pressed fans against iron fences.
Walls collapsed on fans, while the players barricade themselves in the dressing rooms - and hear from inside the roars of the crowd and the screams of distress in the corridors.
"There were fans who died in the arms of players," said Javier Roca, Arma's coach, "I am crushed mentally. I feel a heavy burden, even a heavy responsibility... I think the police overdid it."
Dozens of bodies, and the police shooting (photo: official website, from Twitter)
The stadium where the disaster occurred in Indonesia (Photo: GettyImages, Ulet Ifansasti)
Citizens mourn after the disaster at the stadium in Indonesia (Photo: GettyImages, Ulet Ifansasti)
As mentioned, the exact number of dead has not yet been confirmed.
Many fans are still hospitalized and treated, and some of the injured suffer from brain injuries.
According to the police, two policemen also died during the riot.
The police accused fans of attacking policemen and damaging cars, when indeed according to the photographs you can see the wreckage of the burned vehicles.
During demonstrations across the country in the last day, the demonstrators demand that the police be held accountable.
In the capital, Jakarta, protesters chanted "Murderers! Murderers!"
- and carried signs with the inscription "Kanjurohan Massacre".
Muhammad Mahfud Mahmudin, Indonesia's Minister of Political, Legal and Security Affairs, said the government is asking the police to "expose the criminals involved in the crime."
According to him, a policeman is seen in the footage committing an illegal act, without specifying what it is.
At the same time, the police announced an investigation of 18 police officers who "held the weapons".
Soccer matches in Indonesia are notorious for violent flare-ups between fans.
Indonesia's police force also has a record of brutal force - criticized for frequent use of tear gas, despite it being banned by FIFA as a crowd control measure.
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