The stampede occurred following police fired tear gas.
At least 174 people were killed in a stampede during a soccer match in Indonesia following police fired tear gas at protesting fans, authorities reported.
In addition, regarding 180 people were injured.
The events occurred following Arema FC had lost the match once morest its main rival, Persebaya Surabaya in East Java.
Videos show fans running onto the field following the final whistle.
Immediately followingwards, the police fired tear gas, causing a massive stampede and cases of suffocation.said Nico Afinta, chief of police in East Java.
FIFA pointed out that the use of tear gas in a stadium is not recommended.
“Thirty-four people died inside the stadium and the rest died in hospital,” Afinta said.
“They came out to a point at the start. Then there was a buildup, in the buildup process there was shortness of breath, lack of oxygen“.
Videos on social media appear to show lifeless bodies on the ground.
FIFA, the governing body of world football, has pointed out on several occasions what police they must not carry or use “crowd control gas” at matches.
The Indonesian football association (PSSI) said it had launched an investigation, adding that the incident had “stained the face of Indonesian football”.
An injured woman is carried through the press room.
“Only gunshots were heard”
Muhamad Dipo Maulana, 21, who was in the stands of the stadium, told the BBC that following the game ended, some Arema fans came out onto the field to protest with the local team players, but were intercepted by immediately by the police and “beaten”.
“Then other fans got in to protest what the police were doing and the situation became tense,” said Dipo Maulana.
“And it was at that moment that heto police appeared with dogs, shields and soldiers,” he added.
Muhammad Dipo Maulana said he saw people suffocate as they tried to leave the stadium.
He affirms that he heard more than 20 shots of tear gas that were directed towards the people who were in the stands.
“There was a lot of bang bang bang! The sound was continuous and fast. It was very loud and it was directed at all the stands,” he added.
Dipo said he saw a lot of chaos, people running in panic and choking as they tried to get out of the stadium.
“There were many children and elderly people who were affected by tear gas,” he concluded.
It’s not the first time
Violence at football matches is not new in Indonesia: the Arema FC and Persebaya Surabaya are longtime rivals.
As various local media point out, Persebaya Surabaya supporters had been barred from buying tickets for the game for fear of clashes.
Despite this, the Minister of Security, Mahfud MD, reported on his Instagram account that 42,000 tickets had been sold for the match. at Kanjuruhan Stadium.
The president called for this to be the “ultimate football tragedy in the nation” by ordering all League 1 games to stop pending an investigation.
What happened in Indonesia is the latest in a long line of stadium disasters.
In the stadium there were numerous people with children.
In 1964, a total of 320 people died and more than 1,000 were injured during a stampede when a place for that year’s Olympics was disputed between Peru and Argentina in Lima.
In 1985, 39 people were killed and 600 injured at the Heysel Stadium in Brussels, Belgium, when fans were crushed once morest a wall that later collapsed during the European Cup final between Liverpool (England) and Juventus (Italy).
In the United Kingdom, a crush developed at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, resulting in the deaths of 97 Liverpool fans attending the club’s FA Cup semi-final once morest Nottingham Forest.
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