Over 100 arrested after violent clashes in Argentina vs Chile Copa Subanericana match
More than 100 football fans were in custody Thursday after Argentine and Chilean supporters fought with knives, sticks, stun grenades, and bathroom fittings during a club knockout match near Buenos Aires.
An official for the Argentine side Independiente told AFP that 125 people were arrested after Wednesday night’s abandoned Copa Sudamericana last-16 decider against Universidad de Chile.
The Chilean government said 19 of its citizens had been hospitalised, including one with stab wounds, in some of the worst sporting violence South America has seen in years.
Argentine media reported that three people sustained serious head injuries.
Chilean President Gabriel Boric described the incidents as an “unacceptable lynching” and called for justice.
The violence flared at halftime when fans of the Chilean side began throwing stones, sticks, bottles, and seats at home supporters, an AFP journalist said.
Nestor Grindetti, president of Independiente, accused the visitors of ripping toilets out of the bathrooms and tossing them into the stands.
Players and match officials stood on the pitch hands-on-heads as Independiente fans rushed the visitors’ enclosure—stripping, beating, and bloodying those who could not, or would not, escape.
One Universidad de Chile fan jumped from the upper tier of the stands to escape his attackers, but miraculously managed to survive with non-life-threatening injuries.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino called the violence “barbaric” and called for “example-setting sanctions”.
Conmebol, South America’s football governing body, vowed to act with “the utmost firmness” against those responsible.
The range of punishments facing the clubs ranges from fines to disqualification.
Chile dispatched its interior minister to Buenos Aires to investigate.
Friends and relatives of the arrested fans waited outside a police station near the stadium for news.
Victor Cepeda, who travelled to the game from Chile’s capital Santiago with two friends who were arrested, accused the host side of failing to ensure security.
“They don’t know how to organise a match of this size. Everyone knows that things get thrown around,” he told AFP.
