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Lack of control and fervor say goodbye to Maradona

2020-11-28T21:58:23.652Z


The Argentine star had a funeral surrounded by disorganization, violence and devotion in Buenos AiresHundreds of fans greet the hearse carrying the remains of Diego Armando Maradona from an overpass.Rodrigo Abd / AP Diego Maradona had a funeral according to his career: magnanimous, multitudinous, chaotic, interrupted. An Argentine cocktail of disorganization, brave bars, violence and repression accompanied the farewell of its parishioners, many of whom ended up dispersed by the police bullets th


Hundreds of fans greet the hearse carrying the remains of Diego Armando Maradona from an overpass.Rodrigo Abd / AP

Diego Maradona had a funeral according to his career: magnanimous, multitudinous, chaotic, interrupted.

An Argentine cocktail of disorganization, brave bars, violence and repression accompanied the farewell of its parishioners, many of whom ended up dispersed by the police bullets that for a moment turned downtown Buenos Aires into chaos smelling of gunpowder.

Everything related to the Ten was disproportionate in life and began to be after his death.

The inhabitants of hundreds of “Villas Fiorito” around Buenos Aires tried to reach the Casa Rosada against the clock, since it was known that the family remained firm in its decision to end the wake at four in the afternoon.

Perhaps it was the best decision for his inner circle, but not for hundreds of thousands of people, those excluded from the system whose only triumph in their lives was Maradona, and they just wanted to fire him.

The Government acceded to this wish and, when the police interrupted the passage of the crowd that advanced 800 meters from the Government House, at the height of 9 de Julio Avenue, the situation got out of control.

The fans who were lucky enough to be on the side of the Casa Rosada, who until then formed a neat line, began to run towards the Plaza de Mayo, fearful that they would also close the doors of the burning chapel.

Those who were left outside the suburbs, many encouraged by alcohol and the heat of the coming summer, began to battle against the police, who in turn did not take long to respond with bullets and pepper spray.

The sources of violence multiplied.

Just at that moment, the brave gymnastics bar entered, just arrived from La Plata, and not exactly willing to respect the impossibility of reaching the coffin of the last technical director of his club.

The violent men broke into the Plaza de Mayo and, avoiding the queue that the rest of the parishioners did respect, entered the Government House.

The security forces reacted to the overflow with the release of gases, but the Casa Rosada was still invaded by hundreds of fans.

In their stampede inside the headquarters of the Executive Power, the fans - many of them the gymnastics bars themselves, but also fans wearing shirts from other clubs - brought down the bust of Hipólito Yrigoyen, president of Argentina from 1916 to 1922 and from 1928 to 1930.

The Maradonians also took over the Patio de las Palmeras, one of the historic gardens of the Casa Rosada, shouting "Maradona, Maradona", and even in the middle of the bullfights they moved the mortuary drawer.

The violence spread through the Plaza de Mayo and its surroundings: the police fired rubber bullets without concealment and some fans attacked ambulances with bottles.

There were fainted and injured, although none seriously.

President Alberto Fernández came out to the balcony of the Casa Rosada to ask the people for peace of mind, while the Government tried to get the family to extend the closing hours of the wake to appease the crowd.

Already since noon, Maradona's ex-wife, Claudia Villafañe, who remained with her daughters Dalma and Giannina at one side of the coffin, was opposed to the requests of the president and vice president, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.

When the government finally announced that the farewell would last until 7 p.m., it was already late: the lack of control in the adjacent streets and the internal chaos in the Casa Rosada first interrupted the wake and finally suspended it.

"What an awful way to say goodbye to him," lamented a Boca fan in the Plaza de Mayo.

At his side, a supporter wearing the Argentinos shirt, Maradona's first club, retorted: "Nothing should fade this: it is the people mobilized to fire Diego, here we are the people," while the people were heard in the background sing "because I love Diego, I come to encourage him, in good times, and much more in bad times."

Shortly after six in the afternoon, when the largest crowds had already been forced away from the vicinity of the Casa Rosada, Maradona's body was removed in a drawer with the Argentine flag.

There were still a few hundred fans left.

"Don't you cry?

Won't you let them cry?

Better that at night they return to their houses and start crying, because if not you are the dead, ”a woman reproached a group of policemen, who remained undaunted.

The funeral procession, on its long way to the Bella Vista cemetery, 30 kilometers from Buenos Aires, was then greeted by thousands of other fans who took to the streets, avenues and highways.

The coffin plate read "Diego Armando Maradona, RIP."

Source: elparis

All sports articles on 2020-11-28

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