Tear Gas Orders in Kanjuruhan Soccer Tragedy Under Investigation

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The National Police Commission or Kompolnas on Tuesday announced that the investigation team on the football match that had a tragic turn of events on Saturday, October 1, at East Java’s Kanjuruhan Stadium is still conducting an inquiry against the use of tear gas to disperse crowds. 

Kompolnas commissioner Albertus Wahyurudhanto asserted that the dedicated investigative team is tracing where the orders came from. The match between home team Arema FC and Persebaya Surabaya saw the local team lose, which became a string of events that led to police using tear gas to disperse the field invasion from the crowd, which proved to be lethal. 

“We are studying this because, at the time, the Malang Police Chief was not at the scene and was guarding the Persebaya team outside of the venue,” said Wahyurudhanto on October 4, Antaranews reported. 

He believes such an order – though could possibly be an indirect one – is suspected to come from an official. “We are hunting down the person.”

The former Malang Police Chief adj. Commissioner Ferli Hidayat – who was stripped of his position following the incident that killed over 120 football fans in a match held at the Kanjuruhan Stadium on Saturday – claims he never issued a direct order to utilize tear gas against the agitated crowd. 

On Saturday, October 1, a riot broke after the match between Arema FC and Persebaya Surabaya with a final score of 2-3. Some fans decided to invade the field after their team had been defeated. The clash between police and the rioters escalated with a number of flares being thrown at security personnel, among many various objects. Joint security officers from the police and TNI tried to dispel the supporters and in the end used tear gas.

The incident killed over 120 football fans in a match held at the Kanjuruhan Stadium on Saturday 

ANTARA

Click here to get the latest news updates from Tempo on Google News