BUENOS AIRES: Argentine and Chilean football fans traded blame on Thursday following violent clashes at a Buenos Aires stadium that left 19 people injured.
The pitched battle involved knives, sticks and stun grenades during a Copa Sudamericana round of 16 game between Argentina’s Independiente and Universidad de Chile.
Chilean President Gabriel Boric described Wednesday’s incidents as an “unacceptable lynching” of his compatriots and called for justice.
More than 100 people were arrested over some of the worst sporting violence South America has seen in years.
Fans of the Chilean side began throwing stones, sticks, bottles and a stun grenade at home supporters according to an AFP journalist.
Independiente fans responded by storming the visitors’ enclosure and beating those who could not escape.
The game was eventually abandoned with the score at 1-1 when suspended in the 48th minute.
Ninety-eight people remained in custody on Thursday evening according to Chile’s Consul General in Buenos Aires Andrea Concha Herrera.
The Chilean government confirmed 19 of its citizens had been hospitalized including one with stab wounds.
Nestor Grindetti, president of Independiente, accused the Chilean fans of ripping toilets out of the bathrooms and tossing them into the stands.
Facundo Manent, a 29-year-old Independiente fan, told AFP that the Chilean fans “were throwing everything you can imagine: rocks, seats, urine, poop.”
FIFA President Gianni Infantino described the violence as “barbaric” and called for “example-setting sanctions”.
CONMEBOL, South America’s football governing body, vowed to act with “the utmost firmness” against those responsible.
Universidad de Chile president Michael Clark said it was a “miracle no one is dead.”
Players from both sides appealed for action with Chilean international Felipe Loyola writing “This level of violence cannot be tolerated” on social media.
South American football continues to struggle with fan violence that has claimed hundreds of lives across the continent in the past 20 years. – AFP
