Riots, tear gas shelling, clashes: Stampede at Indonesia football match kills 174

At least 174 people were killed and around 180 injured at a soccer match in Indonesia after a crowd stampede during a riot on Sunday, in what appears to be one of the world’s worst stadium disasters. (Reuters)

When supporters of the losing home team invaded the pitch in East Java province on Saturday night to express their frustration, officers fired tear gas in an attempt to control the situation, triggering a stampede and cases of suffocation, East Java police chief Nico Afinta told reporters. (Reuters)

Video footage from local news channels showed fans streaming onto the pitch in the stadium in Malang after Arema FC lost to Persebaya Surabaya. (Reuters)

Images showed people who appeared to have lost consciousness being carried away by other fans. (Reuters)

World soccer’s governing body FIFA specifies in its safety regulations that no firearms or “crowd control gas” should be carried or used by stewards or police. (Reuters)

Videos showed fans charging towards the centre of the field before they scattered, beat back by uniformed officers carrying batons and riot shields, as loud bangs and clouds of smoke erupted in the arena. (Reuters)

In this picture, the goalpost is seen after a riot and stampede following soccer matches between Arema vs Persebaya. (Reuters)

There have been outbreaks of trouble at matches in Indonesia, with strong rivalries between clubs sometimes leading to violence among supporters. (Reuters)

The Indonesian top league BRI Liga 1 has suspended games for a week and an investigation has been launched, the Football Association of Indonesia said. (Reuters)

The aftermath of the riot and stampede following the football match. (Reuters)

A woman walks past a damaged car. Among global stadium disasters, 96 Liverpool supporters were crushed to death in Britain in April 1989, when an overcrowded and fenced-in enclosure collapsed at the Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield. (Reuters)

Indonesia is scheduled to host the FIFA under-20 World Cup in May and June next year. They are also one of three countries bidding to stage next year’s Asian Cup, the continent’s equivalent of the Euros, after China pulled out as hosts. Here, a medical officer checks riot victims at Saiful Anwar hospital. (Reuters)