A fan was killed Thursday when violent clashes erupted near an Argentine soccer league match outside the capital, Buenos Aires, between Boca Juniors and Jimnasia, and spread to the stands and the pitch, authorities said.
Police fired rubber bullets and tear gas outside the Juan Carmelo Serio stadium in La Plata, about 50 kilometers south of the Argentine capital, in an attempt to prevent fans from storming the already filled stadium.
This policeman shot a TyC cameraman in Gimnasia La Plata v Boca Juniors, as he was covering the tear gas incident and the chaos.
Unbelievable footage this.
pic.twitter.com/QnVThR44pI
— Uri Levy (@Levyninho) October 7, 2022
The unrest continued inside, with shocked fans trying to get over the fence to escape the violence and onto the pitch.
"I can confirm the death of a person. This person died of cardiac arrest," said Sergio Berni, Minister of Security for Buenos Aires Province - where the match was held in the first division -.
According to local reports, about 100 people were injured as a result of the violent clashes.
Referee Hernan Mastrangelo said, minutes after the players and the technical staff left the pitch to the changing rooms, that the match was suspended after 9 minutes until further notice "due to the lack of (security) guarantees".
"It affected all of us on the field. The air became unbreathable. The situation got out of hand and there were no security guarantees."
Authorities at San Martin Hospital in La Plata confirmed the death of a 57-year-old man due to cardiac arrest while being taken from the stadium to hospital.
Many fans, including children accompanied by their parents, rushed out of the stands and onto the pitch, where people were seen sitting or lying down to recover from the tear gas.
These events come in a crucial period in the league, 4 stages before the end, as the stages represented the last chance for Jimnasia to remain in the competition for the title, while Boca Juniors was looking forward to climbing to the top.
No aprendimos nada: En Indonesia hubo 129 muertos como consecuencia de la represión policial, con balas de goma y gas lacrimógeno.
El partido entre Gimnasia (LP) Y Boca Juniors, "suspendido por milagro" #LigaProfesional pic.twitter.com/j1WoC8z1DT
— fabio rosales (@fabiorosales2) October 7, 2022
These events occurred five days after a stampede in a soccer stadium in Indonesia caused by police throwing tear gas, killing at least 131 people, including 32 children.