Soccer fans from all over the world gather to celebrate… ‘Let’s pray for Kanjuruhan’ hashtag on social media
Some commemorative events turned into police protests… Indonesian government to set up independent investigation team
The whole of Indonesia is in mourning over the mass death of spectators at a professional soccer stadium in East Java, Indonesia on the 1st (local time).
Events to commemorate the dead are held across the country, including the capital, Jakarta, and a wave of condolences is rising online, including through social media.
There is also a movement that blames the police for the accident and criticizes the police in some areas.
According to local media such as Antara News and Daily Compass on the 3rd, mourners are continuing to walk at the Kanjuruhan Soccer Field in Malang Regency, East Java, Indonesia, where the accident occurred.
They placed flowers and flower petals around the stadium to express their condolences and even shed tears.
Hundreds of cheering squads from Arema FC, a soccer team in Malang Regency, where the accident occurred, lit candles in front of the iconic lion statue of Arema FC outside the stadium the night before and held an all-night rally to commemorate the dead.
Hundreds of people gathered in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, to hold a candlelight vigil to mourn the dead the night before, and soccer fans from all over Indonesia, including Bali, Surabaya, Bandung, and Lampung, gathered to mourn.
This movement is spreading throughout the world of football.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino said in a statement on the previous day, “It is a dark day and an incomprehensible tragedy for everyone involved in football.”
Spanish football clubs had a minute of silence before the match, and several European football teams expressed their condolences through social media.
The hashtag ‘#PrayForKanjuruhan’, which means ‘Let’s pray for Kanjuruhan’, is spreading widely on social media.
Along with such a commemorative movement, there is also a movement to voice anger towards the police, citing the cause of the accident as excessive police suppression.
At the time of the accident, the police used tear gas in violation of FIFA’s ‘stadium safety and security regulations’, which ban the use of tear gas.
On the iron gate of Kanjuruhan Stadium, where the accident occurred, ‘My brothers were killed.
A black ribbon was drawn along with graffiti saying ‘Investigate thoroughly’, and ‘ACAB’, an abbreviation for ‘All Cops Are Bastards’ (All Cops Are Bastards), was written on the wall.
Malang Regency Police said that Arema FC fans threw stones at the police and set fire to a police car on Malang Street.
In Jakarta, after a candlelight vigil to mourn the dead, hundreds of participants held placards with phrases such as ‘Police stop atrocities’ and shouted ‘murderers, murderers’ to the police in protest.
In other areas, commemorative events have also led to police protests.
Posts accusing police of using tear gas continue to spread online as well.
The post, “Fishing tear gas in a closed space full of people is a serious violation of the law,” garnered more than 11,000 likes.
At the same time, there are also articles asking to correct the excessive cheering culture, saying, ‘There is no football more valuable than human life’.
As public opinion deteriorated, Indonesian President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) issued a statement the day before, directing Police Chief Prabowo to investigate the incident thoroughly.
In addition, the Indonesian government has decided to form an independent fact-finding team to investigate the accident.
/yunhap news