Players from Chivas, América and the referees hug each other to ask for peace in Mexican soccer. ULISES RUIZ (AFP)
Mexican soccer is no longer the same.
The episode in Querétaro broke the script in Mexico after rampant violence in the stands.
Seven days after the worst image on a soccer field, now hundreds of fans protested with white shirts during the country's biggest classic, Chivas-America, to ask for peace.
The pitched battle at the La Corregidora stadium on March 5 caused multiple injuries to 26 people and, according to official data, there were no deaths.
The brutal images where naked Atlas fans were seen and on top of pools of blood scandalized Mexico and the world.
The Querétaro Prosecutor's Office has arrested 22 people, including a man who was taken by his own mother to the authorities and another went on his own account.
This caused that from the Liga MX offices they promoted campaigns to disassociate themselves from the violence of radical fans.
The first was to promote the family message of "scream for peace" in all its divisions, including the Women's League where, since its creation in 2017, an act of violence has never occurred and where homophobic and sexist chants do not appear in men's matches.
During the matches of the tenth date of the Mexican championship, both teams went out together to take the typical photograph before the whistle.
In the 62nd minute, the players from the two clubs and the referees gathered in the middle of the field to hug each other in a circle to ask for peace.
It was in the 62nd minute that last week's Querétaro-Atlas had to be suspended.
The fans in the stands of the Akron stadium, in Guadalajara, dressed in white for peace.Fernando Carranza (CUARTOSCURO)
The Government of the State of Aguascalientes requested that the match between Necaxa and Querétaro, played last Friday, be held without fans as a form of empathy.
In the classic of Mexico, the board of directors of Guadalajara prohibited the entrance to their brave bars and put seats in the area of the stadium that corresponded to their club.
As the Mexican soccer authorities have advanced, the crusade against all the bars has already begun.
In addition, together with America they asked that all the fans be dressed in white to ask for peace, however, in the meeting the pejorative cry of "puto" buzzed, which has cost financial fines and punishments by FIFA.
As of this weekend, the security of all the stadiums corresponds exclusively to the local authorities and will no longer fall to private companies.
The chaos in Querétaro was unleashed by the failure of the security company that failed to control more than 15,000 fans with 600 agents.
They had no preparation or equipment in case they acted.
The president of Liga MX, Mikel Arriola, told EL PAÍS in an interview that the responsibility fell on this private security group and on the Civil Protection authorities and the police.
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