After the match between Arema Football Club (FC) and Persebaya Surabaya ended on Oct 1, Bima Andhika’s brother could be seen standing as he watched the melee happening on the football field from the rows of tribune number 12 at Kanjuruhan Stadium in the Indonesian city of Malang.
A second later, the air turned foggy as police fired tear gas at the tribune, sending supporters racing to the nearest exits.
Bima’s 28-second video that went viral on Twitter depicts police’s heavy-handed approach to disperse the riotous crowd at the football match, which left at least 125 people dead and more than 300 injured – making it one of the world’s deadliest sporting stadium disasters in five decades.
Dedy Prasetyo, spokesman for the national police, said 18 officers who were equipped with tear gas launchers were under investigation.
Jakarta on Monday said it had formed a joint independent fact-finding team to investigate the incident, with the aim of releasing a report in two or three weeks.
Eyewitness videos and testimonies have highlighted the relationship between Indonesian football clubs and their zealous but aggressive supporters, which has often led to unnecessary deaths.
Trouble began after Arema lost 2-3 to Persebaya, their first defeat in 23 years to their biggest rivals.
Some Aremanias – the name of Arema supporters – invaded the pitch to “express their disappointment to Arema players”.
“The more they arrived, the more chaotic the stadium [situation] became because [supporters] from various sides of the stadium also came in to vent their disappointment to the players,” Rezqi Wahyu, an Aremania, said on a viral Twitter thread.
Supporters began “throwing various objects towards the field, and the fans were getting out of control. Finally, the players were led into the locker room under the control of the authorities”, he added.
The pitch invasion led authorities to use repressive actions to scatter the crowd, said Justinus Lhaksana, an Indonesian football observer.
“It started with fans entering the field because they were disappointed to lose at home to rivals. In order to dodge them, police then shot at them and shot into the stands,” he said.
Long-time nemesis
While losing to an arch enemy is understandably painful for any fan, Arema’s loss to Persebaya in this particular clash was expected to lead to riots due to the infamous rivalry between both clubs and their respective supporters.
Aremania and bonek – Persebaya supporters – are known for their club fanaticism that could be described as “fierce, brutal, and cruel”, according to Abdul Bassith Tamami, a researcher from Surabaya State University, who last year published a paper on the clubs’ fractious rivalry.
Mahfud MD, Indonesia’s coordinating minister for politics, legal and security affairs, on Sunday said police had initially recommended the match take place in the afternoon rather than evening to minimise the risk of violence among fans.
The match was given the green light to be held in the evening after away fans were banned from the stadium, said Yunis Nusi, secretary general at Indonesia’s football association (PSSI), on Sunday.
Mahfud said the “overly excited” organiser had provided 42,000 tickets for supporters, exceeding the stadium’s capacity of 38,000 people.
According to Tamami, the antagonism between bonek and Aremania cannot be separated from the rivalry between Surabaya, Indonesia’s second-largest city, and Malang, about two hours’ drive away.
Both have been trying to prove they are the best city in East Java, Tamami argues, and residents are “incompatible” with each other. The hostility spills onto the football pitch.
“In Surabaya, a belief emerged [in the 1980s] that the Malang people did not know [how to conduct] themselves because they had made trouble in other people’s cities, namely making noise and provoking Surabaya people with their behaviour and words,” Tamami wrote.
On the other hand, Malang people consider Surabaya residents to have erratic behaviour, he added.
Tear gas use questioned
However, chief security minister Mahfud MD and many Arema supporters doubled down on Sunday, saying the fatal incident was not caused by a clash between fans.
“In that match, Persebaya supporters were not allowed to watch. Supporters on the field are only from Arema’s side. Therefore, the victims generally died due to jostling, crushing each other, and being trampled, as well as shortness of breath,” Mahfud said.
On Twitter, eyewitness Rezqi said the stampede started when police fired tear gas at supporters “in every corner of the pitch” and also “directly at the crowd at the tribune number 10”, causing fans to panic and run for the exit, which was already packed.
Another video that went viral on Twitter showed a throng of people standing at the stairs, pushing one another, while some tried to climb the door to get out.
A young boy could be seen carried by his father, while a woman was seen fainting on the stairs.
According to a list of victims released by police, the youngest was a two-year-old boy. At least 31 other children died.
“Police said the use of tear gas is part of their standard operating procedure, which I think is strange. When you fire tear gas at supporters sitting in the tribunes, they will scramble and seek an exit. This is how the stampede happened,” Justinus said.
“I suspect police used the standard operating procedure that they’ve been using to disperse crowds during protests. There is a missing link between Fifa, PSSI and the police, because it is clear in Fifa’s manual book that the police cannot use weapons and tear gas inside the stadium.”
He recommended Fifa, world football’s governing body, meet the PSSI to improve security at Indonesian stadiums as pitch invaders are a common sight in the country’s football matches.
Fifa has asked Indonesian authorities for a report on the incident.
Human rights groups have demanded a thorough investigation into the accident, in particular the use of tear gas inside the stadium, which Amnesty International Indonesia said “cannot be justified at all”.
“State accountability is really put to the test in this case.
“Therefore, we urge the state to thoroughly, transparently and independently investigate allegations of excessive use of force by security forces and evaluate security procedures in events involving thousands of people,” said Usman Hamid, Amnesty Indonesia director.
Also on Monday, a tearful Arema president Gilang Widya Pramana apologised to the victims of the stampede and said he took full responsibility for the disaster. “Lives are more precious than football,” he said.
This article was first published in Asia One . All contents and images are copyright to their respective owners and sources.
