Argentine football has once again encountered tragedy. A 57-year-old man has died of a heart attack while being taken to hospital after Buenos Aires police and Gimnasia y Esgrima fans from La Plata, a city 50 kilometers south of the capital, clashed at the gates of the stadium.
The match played by Gimnasia and Boca Juniors was suspended nine minutes after the smoke from the tear gas launched by the police at one of the entrances to the Carmelo Zerillo stadium invaded the stands and the playing field. Gunshots from rubber bullets could be heard outside. According to some local media, the overselling of tickets generated the discontent of hundreds of fans of the local team, who found themselves without a place, despite having paid for their ticket, and with the doors closed half an hour before the start of the match.
The death was confirmed by the Minister of Security of the province of Buenos Aires, Sergio Berni, who assured that the man, Carlos Regueiro, “died when he was leaving the stadium due to cardiac arrest.” A cameraman was injured by rubber bullets and at least a hundred injured spectators were taken to area hospitals following the incidents. Berni blamed what happened on the administration of the local team, Gimnasia y Esgrima. “The responsibility for what happened lies with the organizing club of the show,” he said. The head of the province’s Sports Violence Prevention Agency, Eduardo Aparicio, stated that the game will be suspended indefinitely and avoided holding the police responsible “because there were about 10,000 people outside the stadium when the gates had already been closed.” closed”, according to the agency Tel.
Boca Juniors, second in the championship, and Gymnastics, sixth, played their last chances in the national league four games from the end of the tournament. The smoke from the gases launched by the police began to enter the stadium like a cloud when the game had just started. Nine minutes into the first half, Hugo Ibarra, the coach of Boca Juniors, asked the referee to interrupt the match because the gases had affected his sight. As the players returned to the locker room, desperation broke out in the stands. With the stadium gates closed, fans invaded the field of play while a few shots were still heard outside.
The local team leadership blamed the police. The president of Gimnasia, Gabriel Pellegrino, denied the alleged overselling of tickets, assuring that he could prove that they had sold 3,254 tickets out of a possible 4,300. The rest of the places in the stadium, fitted out for 30,000 people, were reserved for members who pay a subscription to attend throughout the season. “The police are the ones who determine the number of people who come in,” Pellegrino said.
The violence casts a shadow over the Argentine professional league, which has not found solutions despite taking strict measures for years. Away fans haven’t been allowed in since 2013 to avoid clashes outside stadiums, but the move hasn’t changed things. According to the NGO Save football, at least 346 people have died in the history of Argentine football in a conflict related to the most popular sport in the country.
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