Anthony McIntyre ✒ It is unpardonable that police would use teargas at a soccer game. 

The panic that is bound to ensue from fans trapped in a confined space from which they are blindly and desperately trying to escape suffocation hardly needs spelled out. In a stadium where capacity is 38,000 yet 42,000 tickets have been sold, the consequences are certain to be even more horrendous and the necessity of humane crowd control, therefore, even more pressing.
 
Cops cannot feign ignorance of the consequences of their actions. Knowing the risks Indonesian police nevertheless laid into fans with tear gas resulting in around one hundred and twenty five deaths. With breathtaking insensitivity the East Java regional police chief, Insp Gen Nico Afinta brazenly asserted “if the fans had obeyed the rules, this incident would not have happened."
David Duckenfield, how are you?

Yesterday's game took place in East Java where Arema FC lost to rivals Persebaya Surabaya, the first home defeat to this particular visiting side in 23 years. Supporters of Arema stormed the pitch after the defeat. The police, prioritising order over safety, set about killing them. The venue, Kanjuruhan Stadium, will now take its place alongside Hillsborough, Bradford, Heysel, Ibrox, Port Said and Lima National Stadium where other fans entered with friends and exited with pallbearers. 

FIFA has banned the use of CS gas as a method of crowd control at soccer matches. The reason is so obvious it does not need explaining. The organisation's president described yesterday's disaster as “a dark day for all involved in football and a tragedy beyond comprehension”. Those of us who might wish to moan about Liverpool's poor start to the season and the by now obligatory conceding of the first goal, have too many dark memories of what happened in Hillsborough and Heysel to take literally the famous Bill Shankly quote that football is not a matter of life and death, it is much more serious than that. There are more important things to tax the mind that a below par Liverpool side. 

Gassed and gasping for breath the fans stampeded towards the same exit. Those who remember the tunnel leading into the middle pen at Hillsborough know exactly what that means. One of the victims was said to be five years of age. That's how old I was when first taken to soccer match at Windsor Park.

Amnesty International has weighed in, with its executive director for Indonesia, Usman Hamid, saying: 

this loss of life “cannot go unanswered” and called on the authorities to “ensure that those who are found to have committed violations are tried in open court and do not merely receive internal or administrative sanctions”.

All League 1 fixtures in Indonesia have been cancelled and an inquiry is under way. British police at Hillsborough unlawfully killed 97 fans. It seems their counterparts in East Java will be subject to a similar judgment, if not in a courtroom, then in the court of public opinion.

⏩ Follow on Twitter @AnthonyMcIntyre

Kanjuruhan

Anthony McIntyre ✒ It is unpardonable that police would use teargas at a soccer game. 

The panic that is bound to ensue from fans trapped in a confined space from which they are blindly and desperately trying to escape suffocation hardly needs spelled out. In a stadium where capacity is 38,000 yet 42,000 tickets have been sold, the consequences are certain to be even more horrendous and the necessity of humane crowd control, therefore, even more pressing.
 
Cops cannot feign ignorance of the consequences of their actions. Knowing the risks Indonesian police nevertheless laid into fans with tear gas resulting in around one hundred and twenty five deaths. With breathtaking insensitivity the East Java regional police chief, Insp Gen Nico Afinta brazenly asserted “if the fans had obeyed the rules, this incident would not have happened."
David Duckenfield, how are you?

Yesterday's game took place in East Java where Arema FC lost to rivals Persebaya Surabaya, the first home defeat to this particular visiting side in 23 years. Supporters of Arema stormed the pitch after the defeat. The police, prioritising order over safety, set about killing them. The venue, Kanjuruhan Stadium, will now take its place alongside Hillsborough, Bradford, Heysel, Ibrox, Port Said and Lima National Stadium where other fans entered with friends and exited with pallbearers. 

FIFA has banned the use of CS gas as a method of crowd control at soccer matches. The reason is so obvious it does not need explaining. The organisation's president described yesterday's disaster as “a dark day for all involved in football and a tragedy beyond comprehension”. Those of us who might wish to moan about Liverpool's poor start to the season and the by now obligatory conceding of the first goal, have too many dark memories of what happened in Hillsborough and Heysel to take literally the famous Bill Shankly quote that football is not a matter of life and death, it is much more serious than that. There are more important things to tax the mind that a below par Liverpool side. 

Gassed and gasping for breath the fans stampeded towards the same exit. Those who remember the tunnel leading into the middle pen at Hillsborough know exactly what that means. One of the victims was said to be five years of age. That's how old I was when first taken to soccer match at Windsor Park.

Amnesty International has weighed in, with its executive director for Indonesia, Usman Hamid, saying: 

this loss of life “cannot go unanswered” and called on the authorities to “ensure that those who are found to have committed violations are tried in open court and do not merely receive internal or administrative sanctions”.

All League 1 fixtures in Indonesia have been cancelled and an inquiry is under way. British police at Hillsborough unlawfully killed 97 fans. It seems their counterparts in East Java will be subject to a similar judgment, if not in a courtroom, then in the court of public opinion.

⏩ Follow on Twitter @AnthonyMcIntyre

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