Zürcher Nachrichten - Indonesia probes elite officers as stadium disaster death toll rises

EUR -
AED 3.873085
AFN 71.98403
ALL 98.091865
AMD 410.865926
ANG 1.906142
AOA 961.670233
ARS 1051.538092
AUD 1.632295
AWG 1.89276
AZN 1.796773
BAM 1.955638
BBD 2.135523
BDT 126.389518
BGN 1.958718
BHD 0.396967
BIF 3123.440963
BMD 1.054463
BND 1.417882
BOB 7.308394
BRL 6.112667
BSD 1.057612
BTN 88.859931
BWP 14.458801
BYN 3.461213
BYR 20667.465977
BZD 2.131923
CAD 1.486845
CDF 3021.035587
CHF 0.936297
CLF 0.037463
CLP 1028.384713
CNY 7.626405
CNH 7.630566
COP 4744.106555
CRC 538.255361
CUC 1.054463
CUP 27.943258
CVE 110.255856
CZK 25.271148
DJF 188.334381
DKK 7.463529
DOP 63.724715
DZD 140.438353
EGP 51.981689
ERN 15.816938
ETB 128.080678
FJD 2.399904
FKP 0.832305
GBP 0.835681
GEL 2.883997
GGP 0.832305
GHS 16.895599
GIP 0.832305
GMD 74.867216
GNF 9114.244125
GTQ 8.168323
GYD 221.171657
HKD 8.209133
HNL 26.709785
HRK 7.521754
HTG 139.038469
HUF 408.314303
IDR 16764.161957
ILS 3.948029
IMP 0.832305
INR 89.078624
IQD 1385.485097
IRR 44384.968904
ISK 145.147177
JEP 0.832305
JMD 167.96607
JOD 0.747724
JPY 162.746281
KES 136.968641
KGS 91.215016
KHR 4272.645655
KMF 491.985906
KPW 949.015895
KRW 1471.950676
KWD 0.32429
KYD 0.881427
KZT 525.596411
LAK 23240.072622
LBP 94711.445261
LKR 308.984375
LRD 194.603861
LSL 19.241504
LTL 3.113554
LVL 0.637834
LYD 5.165572
MAD 10.544126
MDL 19.217406
MGA 4919.592002
MKD 61.604891
MMK 3424.85323
MNT 3583.063688
MOP 8.480797
MRU 42.220499
MUR 49.781576
MVR 16.291845
MWK 1833.947905
MXN 21.463322
MYR 4.713979
MZN 67.384089
NAD 19.241504
NGN 1756.545202
NIO 38.916773
NOK 11.69185
NPR 142.176209
NZD 1.797139
OMR 0.405466
PAB 1.057612
PEN 4.015067
PGK 4.252647
PHP 61.930171
PKR 293.652946
PLN 4.319842
PYG 8252.315608
QAR 3.85558
RON 4.982551
RSD 116.987298
RUB 105.311966
RWF 1452.579533
SAR 3.960703
SBD 8.847383
SCR 14.594154
SDG 634.2631
SEK 11.576538
SGD 1.416885
SHP 0.832305
SLE 23.83472
SLL 22111.557433
SOS 604.449871
SRD 37.238876
STD 21825.245831
SVC 9.254233
SYP 2649.368641
SZL 19.234405
THB 36.739624
TJS 11.274465
TMT 3.701164
TND 3.336823
TOP 2.469661
TRY 36.323111
TTD 7.181404
TWD 34.245573
TZS 2813.266686
UAH 43.686277
UGX 3881.678079
USD 1.054463
UYU 45.386236
UZS 13537.877258
VES 48.222799
VND 26772.804141
VUV 125.187913
WST 2.943628
XAF 655.902604
XAG 0.034867
XAU 0.000411
XCD 2.849738
XDR 0.796734
XOF 655.902604
XPF 119.331742
YER 263.483869
ZAR 19.17963
ZMK 9491.432086
ZMW 29.037592
ZWL 339.536511
  • BCC

    -0.2600

    140.09

    -0.19%

  • SCS

    -0.0400

    13.23

    -0.3%

  • NGG

    0.3800

    62.75

    +0.61%

  • CMSC

    0.0200

    24.57

    +0.08%

  • CMSD

    0.0822

    24.44

    +0.34%

  • BTI

    0.9000

    36.39

    +2.47%

  • GSK

    -0.6509

    33.35

    -1.95%

  • AZN

    -1.8100

    63.23

    -2.86%

  • RIO

    0.5500

    60.98

    +0.9%

  • BCE

    -0.0200

    26.82

    -0.07%

  • RBGPF

    61.8400

    61.84

    +100%

  • JRI

    0.0235

    13.1

    +0.18%

  • RYCEF

    0.0400

    6.82

    +0.59%

  • RELX

    -1.5000

    44.45

    -3.37%

  • VOD

    0.0900

    8.77

    +1.03%

  • BP

    -0.0700

    28.98

    -0.24%

Indonesia probes elite officers as stadium disaster death toll rises
Indonesia probes elite officers as stadium disaster death toll rises / Photo: Juni Kriswanto - AFP

Indonesia probes elite officers as stadium disaster death toll rises

Elite Indonesian police officers were under investigation Tuesday over a stadium stampede that killed 131 people including dozens of children in one of the deadliest disasters in football history.

Text size:

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 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 after a 3-2 defeat, the first at home 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 hitting fans with batons, according to witnesses and video footage, prompting more fans to enter the pitch.

"If there was a riot, it (the tear gas) should be fired to the pitch, not in the stand," Danny Agung Prasetyo, coordinator of supporter group Arema DC, told AFP.

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 left 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 told AFP.

"In the stand, there were some people who got hit (by tear gas canisters) directly. I saw it myself."

The Malang police chief was replaced 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.

- 'Our friends died here' -

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".

- 'Lot of dangers' -

More vigils were planned in Malang on Tuesday after 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.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino called the tragedy a "dark day" for football.

The safety guidelines of football's global governing body prohibit the use of crowd control gas by police or stewards at pitchside.

Brazilian superstar Pele expressed his condolences and said "violence and sports do not mix".

The Olympic Council of Asia held a minute's silence at its executive board meeting in Cambodia on Tuesday.

"This was a terrible tragedy," said acting president Raja Randhir Singh.

Football fan violence is an enduring problem in Indonesia, and Persebaya Surabaya supporters had been barred from the game because of it.

But fans said they were not to blame.

Everything that could go wrong at a football match appeared to do so on Saturday night, culminating in a disaster never seen before in an Indonesian stadium.

"You could see and sense that something bad could potentially happen. That's the kind of fear you usually get when you travel to a game here," Indonesian football pundit Pangeran Siahaan told AFP.

"There's a lot of dangers every time you go into a football stadium in Indonesia."

O.Pereira--NZN