One person is said to have died as a result of violent altercations that took place during a football game on Thursday between supporters and police at the Carmelo Zerillo Stadium in Argentina.
The fights between Boca Juniors and Gimnasia Esgrima, two of Argentina’s top teams, began outside the stadium in Buenos Aires before spilling inside and onto the playing field as police used tear gas and rubber bullets to try to dissuade spectators from entering the already crowded venue.
This happened just five days after a stadium stampede in Indonesia claimed over 125 lives. In that incident, police also fired tear gas into the crowded stands and onto the playing field.
After nine minutes, the game was called off as tear gas began to fill the air and astonished spectators were seen climbing over barriers and onto the field to flee the violence.
According to Eduardo Aparicio, the leader of a government organization tasked with preventing sports violence, “There were roughly 10,000 people outside the stadium attempting to get in, some with tickets, some without. Everyone could see how crowded the stadium was.
In his words, “All this is being investigated, including “the actions of the police.”
Cesar Regueiro, age 57, passed away after a heart arrest while being transported from the stadium to a hospital, according to officials at San Martin hospital in La Plata.
Numerous people were suffering from the effects of the tear gas and had been brought to hospitals when a cameraman for the sports channel TyC was shot with rubber bullets, according to local media.
The incident occurred because of a lack of security, according to the referee, Hernan Mastrangelo.
He said, “It affected all of us on the field. The air became unbreathable. The situation got out of control and there were no security guarantees.”
Within the stadium, there were explosions, and the pitch immediately filled with smoke as a result of the toxins. The team members had to leave the field, along with the official and the technical crew.
As persons were observed sitting or lying down on the field recovering from tear gas exposure, supporters, including kids being escorted or carried by adults, hurried from the seats.
“The first thing I saw was that people had started to flee the stalls and I began to feel the effects of the gas. I thought about my family and I started to worry,” Gimnasia player, Nicolas Contin, said from the locker room where he had carried his young son.
“I’m angry about everything that happened.”
The game took place when Gimnasia was seeking to stay in the title race and Boca was trying to take over first place in Argentina’s Primera Division.
Speaking with reporters, Boca Juniors manager, Hugo Ibarra said, “What was going to be a party ends in this. It hurts us all what happened, it is tremendous and we regret it.”
According to a local NGO, over 300 people have died as a result of fights inside and outside of Argentina’s stadiums since soccer became a professional sport in the 1930s, with two-thirds of the fatalities occurring after the 1990s.
