<div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><b>At least 129 people died at a football stadium in Indonesia when thousands of fans invaded the pitch and police fired tear gas that triggered a stampede, authorities said Sunday.</b></span><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">The tragedy on Saturday night in the eastern city of Malang, which also left 180 injured, was one of the world's deadliest sporting stadium disasters.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">Arema FC supporters at the Kanjuruhan stadium stormed the pitch late on Saturday after their team lost 3-2 to the visiting team and bitter rivals, Persebaya Surabaya.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Police, who described the unrest as "riots", said they tried to persuade fans to return to the stands and fired tear gas after two officers were killed.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Many of the victims were trampled or choked to death, according to police.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">East Java police chief Nico Afinta said a total of 127 people had died, but the toll was later raised to 129.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A hospital director told local TV that one of the victims was five years old.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Images taken from inside the stadium during the stampede showed poluce firing huge amounts of tear gas and people clambering over fences.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">People were carrying injured spectators through the chaos.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Video footage circulating on social media showed people shouting obscenities at police, who were holding riot shields and wielding batons.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The stadium holds 42,000 people and authorities said it was a sell-out, Police said 3,000 people stormed the pitch.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"We would like to convey that... not all of them were anarchic. Only about 3,000 who entered the pitch," Afinta said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><b>- League suspended -</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">Torched vehicles, including a police truck, littered the streets outside the stadium on Sunday morning. Police said 13 vehicles in total were damaged.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Indonesian government apologised for the incident and promised to investigate the circumstances surrounding the stampede.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"This is a regrettable incident that 'injures' our football at a time when supporters can watch football matches from the stadium," Indonesian Sports and Youth Minister Zainudin Amali told broadcaster Kompas.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"We will thoroughly evaluate the organisation of the match and the attendance of supporters. Will we return to banning supporters from attending the matches? That is what we will discuss."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">East Java Governor Khofifah Indar Parawansa said the provincial government will give 10 million rupiah ($650) in compensation to the families of the victims and the local regency will give five million rupiah.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"This is part of our empathy to the families of the victims," she said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Fan violence is an enduring problem in Indonesia, where deep rivalries have previously turned into deadly confrontations.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Arema FC and Persebaya Surabaya are longtime rivals.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Persebaya Surabaya fans were not allowed to buy tickets for the game due to fears of violence.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">However Indonesia's coordinating minister for political, legal and security affairs, Mahfud MD, said organisers ignored the recommendation of authorities to hold the match in the afternoon instead of the evening.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">And he said the government had recommended only 38,000 tickets be printed, but there was instead a sell-out crowd of 42,000.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"The government has made improvements to the implementation of football matches... and will continue to improve. But this sport, which is a favourite of the wider community, often provokes supporters to express emotions suddenly," he said in an Instagram post.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Football Association of Indonesia (PSSI) suspended football matches of Indonesia's top league, BRI Liga 1, for one week.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It also banned Arema FC from hosting home games for the rest of the season and said it would send an investigation team to Malang to establish the cause of the crush.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"We're sorry and apologise to families of the victims and all parties over the incident," PSSI chairman Mochamad Iriawan said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Indonesia is to host the FIFA Under-20 World Cup in May at six stadiums across the country. The Kanjuruhan stadium in Malang is not included in that list.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Other stadium disasters include a 1989 crush in the stands at Britain'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.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In 1964, 320 people were killed and more than 1,000 injured during a stampede at a Peru-Argentina Olympic qualifier at Lima's National Stadium. AFP</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>