After a pitched fight involving knives, sticks, and stun grenades in a Buenos Aires stadium that left three seriously injured people, including three football players, between Argentina and Chile, the two sides exchanged blame.
The worst sports violence South America has seen in a long time was the subject of more than 100 arrests.
President of Chile, Gabriel Boric, called for justice and described the events on Wednesday as “unacceptable lynching” of his neighbors.
In a Copa Sudamericana round-sea 16 match between Argentina’s Independiente and Universidad de Chile, violence broke out at halftime.
According to an AFP journalist, Chilean fans started kicking at home supporters with sticks, bottles, and a stun grenade.
Independiente fans invaded the visitors’ area, stripping, beating, and blooding those who couldn’t or would not make it out of.
Eventually, the game was given up.
Andrea Concha Herrera, the country’s consul general in Buenos Aires, reported to reporters that 88 people were still in custody on Thursday night.
One hospitalized with stab wounds, according to the Chilean government, is home to 19 of its citizens.
Boric sent his interior minister to Buenos Aires to accompany the injured and follow the case.
A Universidad fan jumped from the top of the stands to escape his attackers, but miraculously survived, according to Argentinian media reports that three people suffered serious head injuries.
The Chilean fans allegedly tore the toilets out of the bathrooms and threw them into the stands, according to Nestor Grindetti, president of Independiente.
Fans of Independiente, including 29-year-old Facundo Manent, reported to AFP that the Chilean fans were “waving everything you can imagine: rocks, seats, urine, and poop.”
He and a number of fans and players on either side accused the Buenos Aires police of being slow to intervene.
Gianni Infantino, president of FIFA, called for “exemple-setting sanctions” and called for “barbaric” behavior.
South America’s top football governing body CONMEBOL promised to take action against those accountable with “the utmost firmness.”
The clubs are subject to a range of punishments, including disqualification and fines.
The news was awaiting the friends and relatives of the arrested fans outside a police station close to the stadium.
Victor Cepeda, who traveled to the game from Santiago, Chile, with two of his friends who had been detained, accused Independiente of failing to provide security.
“They are unable to organize a match this big.” He claimed that everyone is aware of how things get tossed around.
When the game was suspended in the 48th minute, it was called off before being called off.
As the violence broke out, players and match officials sat with their heads raised on the field.
Michael Clark, president of the University of Chile, described it as a “miracle no one is dead.”
Players on both sides made demands for action.
Felipe Loyola, a player for Independiente in Chile, wrote on social media that “this level of violence cannot be tolerated.”
Independiente was criticized by the Chilean National Professional Football Association (ANFP) for its “passivity” in the midst of the violence.
Independiente refuted the accusations, claiming that it had “fully complied with current regulations.”
When it became clear that CONMEBOL had taken an extremely hostile stand, CONMEBOL’s provincial security minister, Javier Alonso, accused the team of taking an excessively long suspension.
Fans’ violence has been a common occurrence in South American football for the past 20 years, killing hundreds of people on the continent.
Source: Aljazeera
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