More than a hundred people remain under arrest this Thursday in Argentina due to the serious clashes that occurred on Wednesday night in the match between Independiente de Avellaneda and Universidad de Chile for the round of 16 of the South American Cup, authorities reported.
About twenty people were injured, some of a white weapon, according to witnesses, without the moment the Argentine authorities have provided official information about the health status of which they had to be hospitalized.
Before the “severity of what happened”, which included the “unacceptable lynching of Chileans”, the president of Chile, Gabriel Boric, announced Thursday that he will send Argentina to his Interior Minister, Álvaro Elizalde, to accompany the injured and supervise the situation of the detainees.
“Violence has no justification, anywhere, and we will protect the rights of our citizens without prejudice to the responsibilities that justice can establish,” he wrote in the social network X.
Partialities of both teams faced each other in the stands of the Libertadores de América stadium, home of the red devils in the south of Buenos Aires, with blows of sticks and fists in a fierce fight of which even a fan – apparently Chilean – sought to escape by throwing into the void from the upper tray after being cornered by other fans.
“The people who are in the hospital are five and there is a person who is serious” for a white weapon wounds, Chile’s ambassador to Argentina, José Antonio Viera-Gallo, to the Chilean DNA Radio, said on Thursday.
According to the ambassador, the person who jumped into the void is out of danger since a roof damping his fall.
“Unusual violence”
The chaos, which caused the cancellation of the party, began when followers of the O threw projectiles, such as sticks, bottles and seats, from the stands superior to the bottom to where the partiality of Independiente was located, found a journalist of the AFP present in the place.
“They took out the bathroom artifacts and threw them into the gallery, an unusual violence. The prevention that had been taken were logics. Here the beginning of the problem with a single audience was clear,” said Néstor Grindetti, president of the King of Argentine Cups.
A source of Independiente told the AFP under identity reserve that the total arrested ascends “to 125”.
The Undersecretary of the Interior of Chile, Víctor Ramos, reported 19 Chileans injured and 107 detainees. According to the ambassador, among them there are three women and five children.
“A visual inspection was made of the place where the events occurred and the reports were requested to the corresponding security agencies, as well as the security cameras of the stadium,” said the Argentine source.
The investigation for violent facts is in charge of investigators of Fiscal Unit 4 of Buenos Aires.
“The release or imputation of charges depends on the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the facts that are imputed to each of them,” said Thursday at the doors of the Ariel Alarcón prosecutor’s office, of the Chilean Investigation Police.
“The legal commitment will be determined by the legal authorities of Argentina. They can be released or processed during the day or tomorrow,” he added.
The incidents occurred when the match back of the eighth was 1-1. The referee temporarily suspended the game at the start of the second part, in the 48th minute. The match was then canceled by Conmebol, which must now communicate the final result and determine the possible sanctions for both clubs.
In the first leg the Chileans had won 1-0.
Organization questioned
At least 650 private security police officers were assigned to the security operation without preventing the brutal brawl. Witnesses reported that the troops delayed to enter the gallery where the first incidents occurred.
The president of Chile himself questioned the logistics of the party minutes after the facts, “from the violence in the bars to the obvious irresponsibility in the organization.”
The U players abandoned this Thursday the hotel where they were staying in Buenos Aires towards the Metropolitan Airport without formulating statements.
“They treated us lousy, it was an enclosure, nobody should go through this for a football game,” a Chilean fan identified as Jonathan told the press at the airport, who traveled to attend the game with his wife.
