Indonesians demand answers over police brutality

As Indonesian families bury their dead, questions are being asked as to how a soccer match attended only by supporters of the home team descended into chaos resulting in one of the sport’s worst ever tragedies.

At least 125 people were killed and more than 300 others injured at the Kanjuruhan Stadium in Malang, East Java on Saturday after angry Arema Football Club fans ran onto the pitch following their team’s 3-2 defeat to rivals Persebaya Surabaya.

Among the dead were 33 children, including one as young as 3 years old, an official with the Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection said. Eight of the children who lost their lives were girls and 25 were boys. Several more minors remain hospitalized, the official said
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Many of those killed were trampled to death or died from asphyxiation and other breathing problems, according to health officials. All were fans of Arema, one of the most popular teams in Indonesia, where passionate support and intense rivalries have often boiled over into violence, observers say.

Persebaya supporters, from the neighboring city of Surabaya, had been barred from the stadium Saturday by organizers in an effort to prevent trouble between rival fans.

Survivors told CNN that angry chants filled the air after Arema’s loss – its first to Persebaya at home in 23 years – and fans ran onto the pitch and into the path of security officers who fired tear gas at the crowd.

Riyu, a friend of two teenagers killed in the mayhem, told CNN Indonesia his friends fled back into the stands after the police fired tear gas. “(People) keep panicking. I don’t know why I was beaten by the police, I don’t know anything,” he said.

East Java police officials confirmed that tear gas had been used and maintained they were forced to control “rioting” fans.

“It had gotten anarchic. They started attacking officers, they damaged cars,” said Police Chief Inspector Nico Afinta at a news conference Sunday, adding that two officers were among the dead.

The Indonesian Government will establish an independent fact-finding team to investigate a stampede at a football stadium in which some 125 people, including more than a dozen children, died.

Indonesia’s coordinating minister for political, legal and security affairs, Mahfud MD, said the investigation into Saturday night’s tragedy in Malang, following a league game between arch rivals Arema FC and Persebaya Surabaya FC, would aim to work out what happened and identify the perpetrators.

The police chief of Malang has been removed from his position, a national police spokesman said on Monday.

“Based on the investigation carried out… tonight the national police chief has made a decision to relieve Malang police chief Ferli Hidayat from his duty and replace him,” Dedi Prasetyo told a televised press conference.

(Agencies)