Argentine and Chilean football fans traded blame on Thursday after violent clashes at a Copa Sudamericana match in Buenos Aires left 19 people injured — three seriously — and more than 100 arrested in one of South America’s worst outbreaks of sporting violence in years.
The trouble erupted on Wednesday night during halftime of the round-of-16 tie between Argentina’s Independiente and Universidad de Chile.
According to witnesses, visiting fans hurled stones, bottles, sticks and even a stun grenade into the home section, prompting Independiente supporters to storm the away enclosure.
Videos showed Chilean fans being stripped, beaten and bloodied as they tried to flee.
The match, tied 1-1 at the time, was abandoned.
Political fallout
Chilean President Gabriel Boric condemned the scenes as an “unacceptable lynching” of his compatriots and dispatched his interior minister to Buenos Aires to support the injured and oversee the investigation.
Nineteen Chilean nationals were hospitalised, including one with stab wounds, while Argentine media reported three fans suffered serious head injuries.
“It is a miracle no one is dead,” Universidad president Michael Clark said.
Accusations fly
Independiente president Néstor Grindetti accused Chilean supporters of vandalising bathrooms and throwing ripped-out toilets into the stands.
Local fans described scenes of chaos, with objects ranging from seats to bottles of urine raining down.
But Chile’s National Professional Football Association (ANFP) blamed Independiente for failing to control security, while some players and supporters accused Buenos Aires police of reacting too slowly.
Outside the stadium, relatives of detained fans gathered at police stations, demanding information.
Football world reacts
FIFA president Gianni Infantino branded the violence “barbaric” and called for “example-setting sanctions,” while CONMEBOL, South America’s governing body, vowed to punish those responsible “with the utmost firmness.” Sanctions could include heavy fines or disqualification from the competition.
Buenos Aires provincial security minister Javier Alonso criticised CONMEBOL for delaying the suspension of the game, despite “clear hostility” in the stands.
A recurring problem
Fan violence has long plagued South American football; in April, two people died in clashes with police outside a Copa Libertadores match in Santiago between Colo-Colo and Brazil’s Fortaleza.
Over the past two decades, hundreds have been killed in football-related unrest across the continent.
“This level of violence cannot be tolerated,” said Felipe Loyola, a Chilean international who plays for Independiente.