The Buenos Aires Security Minister was entering a television channel for an interview, but traveled to the scene of the incidents. What did he say regarding police repression?
The game had not yet been officially suspended, but it was in fact. Hundreds of frightened people, affected by the tear gas that the Buenos Aires Police released in the La Plata Forest, along with the rain of rubber bullets. What happened? There were more people in the stands than the capacity to contain it and many in the street, with legitimate tickets and the great doubt: the club resold tickets or the police operation might not avoid “casts”.
Beyond the conjectures there is a concrete fact that has the Police on target, who ordered to close the entrances to the stadium so that people who, even with their ticket in hand, had stayed outside, would not enter. But the people who were decomposing inside might not leave either: if the public had wanted to leave the stadium, the tragedy of Gate 12 would have been repeated.
“Let anyone take charge. The responsibility lies with whoever organizes the event”indicated the Minister of Security of the province of Buenos Aires, Sergio Berniin an interview with the TN signal, minutes following landing in La Plata, where he arrived by helicopter.
The head of the Agency for the Prevention of Violence in Sport (Aprevide), Eduardo Aparicioestimated that the number of people who tried to enter the stadium with their tickets when capacity was already full, amounted to 8 thousand.
“The information we all have is that there were problems entering, many fans who wanted to enter without tickets. I want to see what happens to order this mess”Minister Berni had managed to say, before entering a television studio, which minutes later he left to arrive by helicopter at the very stadium.
At the same time, the mayor of La Plata was consulted, Julius Garrowho initially pointed to the Gimnasia leadership for having used their stadium instead of Ciudad de La Plata.
“It’s hard for me to understand how these events are not carried out in the Single Stadium. It’s somewhat surprising, they are things that can be planned and foreseen. But our city has one of the best stadiums in South America, it is a place with much more capacity”, Garr pointed out.
“This is not the fault of Gimnasia or Boca, but we live in a society with a lot of violence. I understand that this has to do with planning and that things go much better,” he added.
While some Aprevide officials tried to determine the performance of the planned operation, others exchanged calls and responded to the leaders regarding the possibility of completing the game on Friday.
Berni: “the Police had to act”
“A police officer cannot aim at the body, even with rubber bullets, and he is subject to criminal proceedings,” admitted Berni a few hours following the suspension of the game and shortly following his arrival at the stadium. However, the official was ambiguous since he considered that the deceased person was not related to the operation, since he indicated that it was a “sudden death” that “was no one’s fault.”
“The head of Aprevide tells me that 5,000 or 6,000 more tickets were oversold. People wanted to enter at all costs and broke the gates to try: the Police had to act,” he justified.
“It is premature to speak of those responsible, but I have no doubt that it is the ambition and greed of those who do business with football: they have no scruples in selling twice (the number of tickets allowed). Due to greed and excessive ambition, they People’s lives matter two hells. I’m going to make all the criminal complaints so that this doesn’t happen once more, “he said, placing the full weight of responsibility on the Gymnastics leaders.
Although Berni admitted that he had not observed the images that circulated on social networks and television, he acknowledged that “Internal Affairs” will be in charge of establishing responsibilities in the chain of command. “We have to determine who gave the order to close the doors and fire tear gas and give the call for fire,” he listed.
