Over 150 Die As Riot Breaks Out During Football Match In Indonesia

More than 150 football fans died on Saturday in a stampede during a match between rivals Arema and Persebaya in the Liga 1 Indonesian league.

Fans reportedly invaded the pitch breaching security at full time after Persebaya beat Arema 3-2. Police usage of tear-gas on the crowd then led to supporters rushing to the exits. The resulting stampede led to cases of suffocation.

Thirty-four people died in the Kanjuruhan stadium and the rest while in hospital.

The incident forced the remaining Liga 1 fixtures for the week to be postponed and Arema FC have been barred from hosting matches for the time being.

President Joko Widodo has declared that this must be the country’s “last soccer tragedy”, and games have been suspended while the Indonesian football association carries out a full investigation. The current death toll stands at 174.

“I have specially requested the police chief to investigate and get to the bottom of this case,” Jokowi said in a televised speech. “Sportsmanship, humanity and brotherhood should be upheld in Indonesia.”

“I regret this tragedy and hope that it will be the last to occur in Indonesian football. We cannot have anymore (of this) in the future.”

The incident is the biggest football disaster since a 1989 crush in the stands at the UK’s Hillsborough Stadium, which led to the deaths of 97 Liverpool fans, and the 2012 Port Said stadium tragedy in Egypt where 74 people died in clashes.