World News
Crowd movement in a stadium: new death toll of 174
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Sylvie Claire / October 2, 2022
It is one of the worst tragedies ever occurred in a stadium that mourns Indonesia this Sunday. According to local authorities, the death toll is 174.
The death toll from Saturday night‘s mobbing after a soccer match in Indonesia has risen from 129 to 174, local authorities said Sunday.
The mob occurred after thousands of fans invaded a soccer field and were sprayed with tear gas.
The tragedy, which took place in the city of Malang, east of the island of Java, has also injured some 180 people in this archipelago of Southeast Asia where rivalries between fans often turn to disaster.
Supporters of Arema FC team entered the field of Kanjuruhan Stadium in Malang city after their team lost 3-2 to Persebaya Surabaya. It was the first time in more than 20 years that Arema FC lost to their arch-rivals.
Police, who described the incident as “rioting,” tried to persuade fans to return to the stands and fired tear gas after two police officers were killed. Many victims were fatally trampled.
Survivors described panicked spectators trapped by the crowd when police fired tear gas.
Footage captured inside the stadium shows a huge amount of tear gas and people clutching at barriers, trying to escape. Others were carrying injured spectators, making their way through the chaos.
“Police officers sprayed tear gas, and people immediately rushed out pushing each other and it caused a lot of casualties,” Doni, a 43-year-old spectator, who did not want to give his last name, told AFP.
There was nothing, no riots. I don’t know what happened, they suddenly sent tear gas,” he said. “What shocked me is that they did not think about women and children?
Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Sunday ordered “a full assessment of the soccer matches and security procedures” after the incident.
He asked the National Football Association to suspend all matches until “security improvements” are made.
“I deeply regret this tragedy and hope that this football-related tragedy will be the last in our step,” he said in a televised speech.
A hospital director told a local television station that one of the victims was only five years old.
The stadium held 42,000 people and was full, according to authorities. Some 3,000 of them invaded the field in anger after the game.
A desolate sight in front of the stadium testified Sunday morning of the previous day’s unrest: burned vehicles, including a police truck, littered the streets. The police said that 13 vehicles were burned.
The Indonesian government apologized for the incident.
“We are sorry for this incident (…) It is an unfortunate incident that “hurts” our soccer at a time when fans can attend a match in a stadium” after a long interruption during the Covid-19 pandemic, said the Indonesian Minister of Sports and Youth Zainudin Amali to the channel Kompas.
The Football Association of Indonesia (PSSI) also apologized and suspended all matches scheduled for this week.
“We are sorry and apologize to the families of the victims and to all parties for this incident,” said PSSI president Mochamad Iriawan.
Fan violence is a problem in Indonesia, where long-standing rivalries have turned into deadly clashes.
Some matches — the most important being the derby between Persija Jakarta and Persib Bandung — are so tense that players from the top teams have to go there under heavy protection.
Fans of Persebaya Surabaya had not been allowed to buy tickets for the match for fear of incidents.
The head of the Asian Football Confederation, expressed his regret at the loss of life.
“I am deeply shocked and saddened to hear such tragic news from Indonesia, a country where soccer is loved,” said Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa in a statement.
Indonesia is scheduled to host next year’s U-20 World Cup in several stadiums across the country, but Malang is not one of them.
In 1989, a crowd at Hillsborough Stadium in Britain killed 97 Liverpool fans and in 2012, the Port Said Stadium in Egypt suffered another tragedy with 74 deaths.
In 1964, 320 people died and more than a thousand were injured in a crowd movement at the National Stadium in Lima during a qualifying match between Peru and Argentina.
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Sylvie Claire / July 21, 2024
Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky spoke on the phone on Friday, with the former US president claiming to have promised the Ukrainian president to “end the war” between Ukraine and Russia should he return to the White House. “As your next president of the United States, I will bring peace to the world and end the war that has cost so many lives,” said the Republican presidential candidate.
Donald Trump frequently claims that he would be able to put an end to the conflict in Ukraine very quickly on his return to power, but never provides details of how he would achieve this. Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed the phone call, during which he congratulated the billionaire on his official nomination the previous day as the Republican Party’s presidential candidate.
Donald Trump’s frequent praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin, as well as his criticism of other Nato countries, is causing concern among Ukraine’s Western allies. In February, he threatened that, if he returned to the White House, he would no longer guarantee the protection of Atlantic Alliance countries against Russia if they did not pay their share, even claiming that he would “encourage” Moscow to attack them. The former American president also used his power over the Republicans to block a $61 billion military aid package for Kiev for months in Congress, which was finally adopted at the end of April.
In his posting on X on Friday, Volodymyr Zelensky said he had “agreed with President Trump to discuss, in a face-to-face meeting, the steps to be taken towards a just and lasting peace” in Ukraine.
World News
Former Ukrainian far-right MP murdered in Lviv: “All leads are being investigated, including Russia”
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Steph Deschamps / July 21, 2024
In a message on Telegram, the Ukrainian National Police said she had succumbed to her injuries in hospital after being the target of an assassination attempt.
“I always say that no place is safe in Ukraine,” lamented Lviv mayor Andriï Sadovy, denouncing a ‘heinous murder’ and offering his condolences to the victim’s relatives.
According to the Ukrainian Prosecutor’s Office, the attack took place on Friday evening, at around 7.30pm, when an unidentified individual fired at Irina Farion, seriously wounding her in the head. “All surveillance cameras are being checked, witnesses are being interviewed and several districts (of Lviv) are being examined. All leads are being investigated, including the one leading to Russia”, reacted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on X on Saturday.
Interior Minister Igor Klimenko told a briefing in Lviv on Friday evening that the suspected killer could have been lurking around Irina Farion’s home for several days.
According to him, investigators are currently focusing on the possibility of a murder motivated by a “personal grudge” linked to the victim’s activities, but are not ruling out a “commissioned assassination” either.
The 60-year-old language teacher and linguist was a member of parliament for the nationalist Svoboda party between 2012 and 2014.
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Sylvie Claire / July 18, 2024
At least six people died in a shopping mall fire on Wednesday in Zigong, southwest China, and thirty others were rescued, China’s state broadcaster CCTV said. “Rescue teams are continuing their search,” the media outlet added.
Images broadcast by the channel and others shared on social networks show thick black smoke rising from a building overlooking a shopping street in this city 1,600 kilometers from the capital Beijing, in the southwestern province of Sichuan.
The fire broke out in the early evening in a shopping mall at the foot of a 14-storey building, CCTV reported.
“At 8:20 pm, the fire was extinguished and 17 people were rescued. Others are still trapped, and rescue operations are continuing”, said the station in an initial report on the situation.
Fires and other fatal accidents are frequent in China, due to the sometimes lax application of safety standards. In January, at least 39 people perished in a store fire in central China. According to the authorities, the fire started in the basement of a store when workers “broke the rules” during construction work. At the time, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for lessons to be learned from the disaster to prevent further tragedies. The same month, a fire in a residential building claimed at least 15 lives.
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