129 dead after fans stampede to exit Indonesian soccer match – video
RIYADH: Fans in the Indonesian city of Yogyakarta have stampede to escape a match in which a supporter from a top club died during riot police action against rioting fans, officials said on Saturday.
Twenty-four people were killed and hundreds injured when two groups of men clashed outside the stadium where a match was taking place on Friday night.
The crowd stampede was prompted by a dispute between fans of two teams, PSS Sleman and Kaya, authorities said.
“When the riot police arrived, the fans got into a stampede,” Yogyakarta provincial police chief Sutopo Nugroho told AFP news agency.
“We have arrested five people as suspects in the stampede.”
Police said the death toll had risen to 24, with around 30 other people injured.
The stampede sent spectators scattering into the streets and police used water cannon trucks to disperse the crowd in the worst police violence in the city since August last year.
Policemen then sealed off Yogyakarta Stadium, a multi-purpose stadium, and the match between the two clubs was called off.
Officials have not said how many people were injured, but police said that people were treated for “serious injuries”.
As fans fled the stadium, one man, who was wounded, died at hospital.
Policemen wearing riot gear stood on a stage where the dead man was laid to rest. The man was a supporter of Kaya, a club based in the neighbouring town of Yogyakarta.
A group of young men, who were believed to be Kaya supporters, tried to stop the funeral cortege from leaving the stadium but they were surrounded and taken away by police.
Kaya, whose players were in Yogyakarta, issued a statement criticising the police and demanding an apology.
The club said the fans had taken it by surprise when police had started to beat people after the game had finished, and had refused to leave until the police stopped.
“We demand that the police admit their