Indonesia probes elite officers as stadium death toll rises
As the regional police chief, I am concerned, saddened and at the same time I am sorry for the shortcomings in the security process, said East Java police chief
Elite Indonesian police officers were under investigation on Tuesday over a stadium stampede that killed 131 people including dozens of children in one of the deadliest disasters in football history.
As public anger grew, police moved to punish those responsible for the crush in the city of Malang that witnesses say started when officers fired tear gas into packed stands to quell a pitch invasion.
“As the regional police chief, I am concerned, saddened and at the same time I am sorry for the shortcomings in the security process,” East Java police chief Nico Afinta told a press conference on Tuesday.
The terraces of the Kanjuruhan stadium were packed Saturday evening with 42,000 “Aremania,” or Arema FC fans, for a match against fierce rivals Persebaya Surabaya.
But ater a 3-2 defeat, the first home loss for more than two decades to their adversaries, fans streamed down to the pitch to confront players and management.
Police described the incident as a riot and said two officers were killed, but survivors accused them of overreacting.
Officers responded to the pitch invasion with force, kicking and hiting fans with batons, according to witnesses and video footage, prompting more fans to enter the pitch.
“If there was a riot, (tear gas) should be fired to the pitch, not in the stand,” Danny Agung Prasetyo, coordinator of supporter group Arema DC, said.
The death toll jumped again on Tuesday with local health official Wiyanto Wijoyo telling AFP six more victims had succumbed to their injuries.
Indonesian officials said 4,000 more tickets had been allocated for the match than should have been, while some of the stadium’s doors appeared to have been shut, according to witnesses.
That let physically stronger supporters to scale large fences to escape the mayhem, while the most vulnerable were at the mercy of the crush as tear gas rained down.
“The doors were closed, that’s why people were pushing. Some lay down in the corner” by a closed gate to try to escape the crush, a 16-year-old survivor of the chaos said.
The Malang police chief was replaced on Monday, nine officers were suspended and 19 others were put under investigation over the disaster in the stadium, which was filled with only hometown Arema FC fans, national police spokesman Dedi Prasetyo said.
He said those suspended were members of the Mobile Brigade Corps, or Brimob, a unit that acts as the special-operations paramilitary unit for the Indonesian police force and is notorious for its aggressive crowd control tactics.
Indonesia’s football association also moved on Tuesday to sanction Arema FC, banning its organising commitee chairman and a security officer from football for life and fining the club 250 million rupiah ($16,000) over the tragedy.
Arema FC fans set up an outdoor stall in Malang Monday to receive legal complaints.
They said they would file a lawsuit against officers for causing what they said were scores of deaths by indiscriminately targeting spectators in confined terraces.
The Indonesian government suspended the country’s national football league and announced a task force to investigate the tragedy.
It said the probe would take two to three weeks. Calls for an independent investigation have grown since details of the stampede started to emerge over the weekend.
“There is no instruction to fire tear gas and there is no instruction to lock the door,” Albertus Wahyurudhanto, a commissioner of the National Commission of Human Rights (Komnas HAM), told a press conference Tuesday.
Fan anger was displayed outside the stadium where a police truck was torched and the walls were daubed with graffiti that read “Tear gas vs mother’s tears” and “Our friends died here.”
More vigils were planned in Malang on Tuesday ater fans and Arema FC players gathered outside the stadium a day before to lay flowers at the scene and pray for the victims.
Among the dead were 32 children, an official at the women’s empowerment and child protection ministry told AFP, adding that the youngest was aged three or four.