Fans Suffered Through Tear Gas Inside, Outside Kanjuruhan Stadium: Watchdog Report

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Civil Society Coalition’s fact-finding team dedicated to independently investigating the deadly stampede at the Kanjuruhan stadium found that the hundreds of fans attending the football match between Arema FC and Persebaya Surabaya were not just dispersed with tear gas inside the stadium following a pitch invasion after the match ended, but also outside. 

The civil society group that comprises the Pos Malang Legal Aid (LBH), Surabaya LBH, YLBHI, Lokataru,  IM 57+ Institute, and the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (KontraS), asserted that the violence and suffering of fans continued outside the stadium.

“The violent incident and its suffering not just happened inside the stadium, but also outside the stadium. It was known that police also used tear gases against the football fans who were outside the stadium,” the coalition wrote in a statement on October 9.

This issue is deemed crucial as the Aremania – the match was exclusively attended by Arema FC fans as a preventive measure from the match’s management – had to go through the choking gas after they jostled their way out of the small exit halls. This is the crucial moment the coalition believes caused the most losses of life. 

“It is strongly believed that the post-tribune condition is the moment where many of the fans died. This is added to the lack of optimum medical services in response to the critical condition fans suffered after being exposed to thick clouds of tear gas,” the coalition report wrote. 

A relatively under-control pitch invasion that happened following the derby match between Arema FC and Persebaya Surabaya at Kanjuruhan on October 1 was responded to by security personnel with physical violence and, most controversially, a string of tear gas shots aimed at tribune seats. The National Police Chief had named 6 suspects in the incident. 

One of the suspects is the president director of the country’s football league committee PT LIB Akhmad Hadian Lukita.

“There are currently 6 suspects based on initial investigation and the pieces of evidence,” said the National Police Chief Listyo Sigit Prabwo in a press conference at the Police Main Headquarters on October 6.

The other five suspects in the Kanjuruhan football stadium disaster include the acting committee chief of the Arema FC game Abdul Haris, security officer Suko Sutrisno, East Java Police Brimob commander AKP Hasdarman, Malang Police officer Wahyu SS, and another Malang Police Officer with initials BSA.

M JULNIS FIRMANSYAH

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