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Riots during football match in Indonesia, 129 people killed

 Authorities in Indonesia say 129 people have been killed by police firing tear gas after protesters stormed the pitch during a football stadium match.

Arima FC supporters stormed the pitch at Kanjurohan Stadium in the eastern city of Malang on Saturday night after their team lost 3-2 to Persiba Surabaya, according to French news agency AFP.

Police tried to persuade fans to return to the stands and fired tear gas after two officials were killed.

"Many people were crushed and some suffocated when they ran together to get out," East Java Police Chief Nico Afenta said on Sunday.

He had initially said that 127 people were killed in the incident, which the police termed as 'riot', but later this number reached 129.

A hospital director told local TV that one of the victims was five years old.

Photos taken from inside the stadium during the stampede showed large amounts of tear gas being fired and people climbing over fences.

The Indonesian government has apologized for the incident and promised an investigation.

There were 42,000 people in the stadium and police say 3,000 spectators stormed the pitch.

"We would like to point out that these were not all anarchists," Police Chief Nico Afenta said. Only those around three thousand who entered the pitch.

"This is a sad incident that has damaged our football at a time when fans can watch football matches from stadiums," Indonesia's Minister of Sports and Youth, Zeinuddin Amali, told broadcaster Compass.

He said that we will thoroughly review the organization of the match and the attendance of supporters. Will we ban supporters from attending matches again? That is what we will discuss.


The Football Association of Indonesia has suspended football matches for a week.

The association banned Arima FC from hosting home games for the rest of the season and said it would send an investigation team to Maling.

Chairman of PSSI says, "We are sorry and apologize to the affected families and all parties for this incident."