One of the worst tragedies in football history took place in Indonesia. Saturday, October 1, in the city of Malang in the east of the island of Java, 174 people were killed in a football stadium, on the sidelines of a match, following a crowd movement and the intervention by law enforcement. However, the exact circumstances are still unclear. Here is what we know about it.
A very heavy toll
The tragedy occurred at the Kanjuruhan stadium, in the city of Malang, home of the Arema FC club. The local club received its neighbor – and rival – Persebaya Surabaya, against whom it had not lost for more than twenty years. So the defeat of Arema FC (3-2) struggled to pass in the eyes of the 42,000 supporters. About 3,000 of them took to the lawn to show their anger. An unfortunately unsurprising scene in a country accustomed to fan violence.
An invasion of land, followed by a crowd movement, which claimed the lives of 174 people, including at least one child. This drama recalls sad times, including the incidents at Hillsborough stadium in Great Britain in 1989, which left 97 Liverpool fans dead. Or more recently those of the Port Said stadium in Egypt, with 74 deaths in 2012. The sad record in this area dates from 1964 in Peru, with 320 deaths following a crowd movement. This Indonesian tragedy and its scale are therefore unfortunately historic.
Tear gas and panic
Police, who described the disaster as “riots”, tried to persuade fans to return to the stands and fired tear gas after two officers were killed. Many victims were then trampled to death. Survivors described panicking onlookers pinned down by crowds as police fired tear gas. Footage captured inside the stadium shows a huge amount of tear gas and people clinging to the barriers, trying to escape.
#urgent Indonesia football tragedy is ‘2nd deadliest stadium disaster’ with at least 129 killed (after Peru, 1964). President @jokowi orders investigation into football protocol & security. Questions over police use of tear gas to stop brawls. Stadium may have been over capacity. pic.twitter.com/bHbEyzW83T
— Will Ripley (@willripleyCNN) October 2, 2022
Others carried injured bystanders, pushing their way through the chaos. “Police threw tear gas, and people immediately rushed out, pushing each other and that caused a lot of casualties”told AFP Doni, a 43-year-old spectator, who did not want to give his last name.“There was nothing, no riots. I don’t know what happened, they suddenly threw tear gas”did he declare. “What shocked me is that they didn’t think of women and children?”
Government apologies and ongoing investigation
Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Sunday ordered “a comprehensive assessment of football matches and security procedures”, after this tragedy. He asked the National Football Association to suspend all games until “security improvements”. “I deeply regret this tragedy and hope that this football-related tragedy will be the last in our country.”he said in a televised address.
“We are sorry for this incident (…) It is a regrettable incident which hurts our football at a time when fans can attend a match in a stadium” after a long hiatus during the Covid-19 pandemic, Indonesian Sports and Youth Minister Zainudin Amali told Kompas TV. Mea culpa also on the side of the Football Association of Indonesia (PSSI), which suspended all matches scheduled for this week. “We are sorry and we apologize to the families of the victims and to all parties for this incident,” said PSSI President Mochamad Iriawan.
Indonesia accustomed to deadly rivalries
A distressing spectacle in front of the stadium testified Sunday morning to the unrest of the day before: charred vehicles, including a police truck, littered the streets. Police reported 13 burned vehicles. Fan violence is a problem in Indonesia, where long-running rivalries have turned into deadly clashes. Some matches — the most important being the derby between Persija Jakarta and Persib Bandung — are so tense that players from top teams have to go there under heavy protection.
For this meeting, fans of Persebaya Surabaya were not allowed to buy tickets for the match, for fear of incidents. The secretary general of the National Football Association PSSI, Yunus Yussi, said he had communicated with FIFA on this dramatic incident and hopes to avoid sanctions from the international body. He explained that the police used tear gas inside the stadium because “she had to take steps to prevent” fans to invade the field. Not enough to reassure FIFA, while Indonesia is to host the U20 World Cup next year.
First tributes
A minute’s silence will be observed in Spanish stadiums ahead of Sunday’s matches in tribute to the victims of the disaster. In a statement, FIFA President Gianni Infantino regretted this “tragedy beyond imagining”.