عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
World

Indonesia Sets up Team to Probe Soccer Stampede; Police Use of Tear Gas in Focus

People walk amongst debris in the stands at Kanjuruhan stadium days after a deadly stampede following a football match in Malang, East Java on October 3, 2022. (AFP)
People walk amongst debris in the stands at Kanjuruhan stadium days after a deadly stampede following a football match in Malang, East Java on October 3, 2022. (AFP)
TT
TT

Indonesia Sets up Team to Probe Soccer Stampede; Police Use of Tear Gas in Focus

People walk amongst debris in the stands at Kanjuruhan stadium days after a deadly stampede following a football match in Malang, East Java on October 3, 2022. (AFP)
People walk amongst debris in the stands at Kanjuruhan stadium days after a deadly stampede following a football match in Malang, East Java on October 3, 2022. (AFP)

Indonesia has set up an independent team to investigate a crowd crush at a football stadium that killed 125 people, including 32 children, authorities said on Monday, as the country's human rights commission questioned the police use of tear gas.

Panic-stricken spectators stampeded as they tried to escape the overpacked stadium in Malang, East Java, on Saturday after police fired tear gas to disperse fans from the losing home side who ran onto the pitch at the end of the BRI Liga 1 match in the domestic league.

At least 32 of the victims were children between 3 and 17, Nahar, an official at the women's empowerment and child protection ministry, told Reuters. The official has earlier put the death toll of children at 17.

"My family and I didn't think it would turn out like this," said Endah Wahyuni, the elder sister of two boys, Ahmad Cahyo, 15, and Muhammad Farel, 14, who died after being caught in the melee.

"They loved soccer, but never watched Arema live at Kanjuruhan stadium, this was their first time," she added at her brothers' funeral on Sunday, referring to the home side they backed.

FIFA, the governing body for world football, says in its safety regulations that firearms or "crowd control gas" should not be used at matches.

"If there hadn't been any tear gas maybe there wouldn't have been chaos," Choirul Anam, a commissioner at Indonesia's National Commission on Human Rights, known as Komnas Ham, told a briefing at the stadium.

Police and sport officials have been sent to Malang to investigate what is one of the world's deadliest stadium disasters. President Joko Widodo ordered the football association to suspend all Liga 1 matches until the investigation is completed.

In 1964, 328 people were killed in a crush when Peru hosted Argentina at the Estadio Nacional in Lima.

In a 1989 British disaster, 96 Liverpool supporters were crushed to death when an overcrowded and fenced-in enclosure collapsed at the Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield.

Indonesia's chief security minister Mahfud MD said the government would form an independent fact-finding team, including academics and football experts as well as government officials, to probe what happened.

The team will investigate for the next few weeks with the aim of finding out who was responsible for the tragedy, he said.

Violence and hooliganism have long been features of Indonesian football, especially in places such as Jakarta, the capital, but the scale of Saturday's disaster in this town in Java has left the small community numb.

‘Our football tragedy’

Indonesian daily Koran Tempo ran a black front page on Monday, centered on the words "Our Football Tragedy" printed in red along with a list of the dead.

Home side Arema FC had lost the match 3-2 to Persebaya Surabaya, though authorities had said tickets were not issued to Persebaya fans over security concerns.

Mahfud said on Sunday the stadium had been filled beyond capacity. Some 42,000 tickets had been issued for a stadium designed to hold 38,000 people, he said.

A tearful Arema FC president Gilang Widya Pramana apologized on Monday to the victims of the stampede and said he took full responsibility.

"Lives are more precious than soccer," he told a news conference.

In an address on Sunday, Pope Francis said he had prayed for those who have lost their lives and for the injured from the disaster.

FIFA, which called incident a "dark day for all involved in football and a tragedy beyond comprehension", has asked Indonesian football authorities for a report on the incident.

Most Viewed

 
 
World

UN Report: 40% of War-Related Deaths are Women, and 30% are Children

The majority of recorded deaths, 70%, occurred in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the deadliest conflict for civilians in 2023 (Reuters)
The majority of recorded deaths, 70%, occurred in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the deadliest conflict for civilians in 2023 (Reuters)
TT
TT

UN Report: 40% of War-Related Deaths are Women, and 30% are Children

The majority of recorded deaths, 70%, occurred in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the deadliest conflict for civilians in 2023 (Reuters)
The majority of recorded deaths, 70%, occurred in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the deadliest conflict for civilians in 2023 (Reuters)

While the proportion of women killed in armed conflicts doubled last year compared to 2022, the situation will not be any better in 2024, according to the annual report by the Office of UN Secretary-General on the protection of civilians in war contexts.
The report, released a few days ago, paints a very bleak picture of what women have suffered in armed conflicts in 2023.
It said 40% of civilians killed in armed conflict in 2023 were women, twice as many as in 2022. The number of children who lost their lives (30%) also tripled.
The report also highlights an exponential increase in civilian casualties, with at least 33,443 non-combatants killed in 2023, a 73% rise from the previous year.
Gaza City...70% of Recorded Deaths
The majority of recorded deaths, 70%, occurred in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the deadliest conflict for civilians in 2023, the report said.
Policy Specialist on Peace and Security at UN Women, Pablo Castillo said the increase in the proportion of women who died in armed conflict occurred “in all wars.”
“The reason [for this trend] is the growing disregard for international law and humanitarian standards amid a backdrop of both cold and hot wars between superpowers, along with a general geopolitical climate that challenges multilateralism,” said Castillo. “Additionally, there is a discernible trend of attacking anything that can be identified as feminism.”
UN Women contributed to reports on women, peace, and security and which highlighted the alarming figures regarding female mortality in conflict zones.
“The world is caught in a frightening spiral of conflict, instability and violence. In 2023, more than 170 armed conflicts were recorded, and approximately 612 million women and girls lived within 50 km of these conflicts, 150% more than just a decade ago,” stated the UN report on women, peace and security.
Another “alarming” finding revealed by the study is the 50% increase in cases of sexual assault in conflict zones, along with a 35% rise in serious rape cases involving girls in these countries.
This is emphasized by Cristina Sanchez, a law professor at the Autonomous University of Madrid and an expert on the intersection of war and gender.
“These are not random acts; sexual violence is a targeted and effective weapon of war. It not only serves to displace populations from their homes but also functions as a bargaining chip, with women being sold among terrorist groups as a means of financing,” she said.
The UN describes this situation as “a war on women,” noting that they are affected in numerous ways beyond death and rape.
For instance, access to healthcare is becoming increasingly restricted.
Every day, 500 women and girls in conflict-affected countries die from complications related to pregnancy and childbirth.
“An estimated 52,000 pregnant women have been caught in the war, with an estimated 180 deliveries every day, most of them without access to anesthetics for cesarean sections and without water, sanitation, nutrition or postpartum care,” stated the UN report.
“A pregnant patient from a rural area had to wait two days to get the money she needed to receive care,” said Maria Fix, head of the Doctors Without Borders team in South Darfur, Sudan.
“When she finally reached a health center, they had no medicines, so she returned home. After three days, her condition worsened, but she again had to wait five hours to be transferred. She was in a coma when she reached us. She died of a preventable infection,” she added.
Absence of International Awareness
For the first time, the report mentioned a direct criticism to the so-called “basic public awareness about these injustices.”
The report also criticized the lack of media coverage: although reports on wars increased sixfold between 2013 and 2023, only 5% focused on women’s experiences.
“In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war has been denounced for decades. And nothing happens. This also sends a message of impunity,” said Sanchez.
In that country, the UN reported over 123,000 cases of gender violence in 2023, a 300% increase over three years, which has not been accompanied by a rise in convictions.
The neglect is also evident in the reduced funding for organizations focused on gender equality and specific programs aimed at mitigating the impact of war on women, the report showed.
Women are frequently excluded from peace negotiations, “despite the fact that it is known that increased female participation leads to more robust and lasting agreements,” said Castillo.
Instead of progress, attacks against women’s rights activists have intensified. “Anti-gender and anti-feminist movements are well-organized and have at their disposal considerable financial resources,” said the report.
In several countries, including Iraq, Libya, and Yemen, local or national authorities have even banned the term “gender” and restricted or persecuted activities advocating for equality.
In Afghanistan, “the oppression of Afghan women is severe,” the report said.
Girls over the age of 12 have been denied the right to education for three years, among various other restrictions that have led the UN to classify the situation as gender apartheid.