A massive barrage of tear gas munitions fired by Indonesian police at soccer fans prompted the fatal crush in Malang last weekend that left at least 130 people dead, a Washington Post investigation shows.
Police standing in front of section 13 fired tear gas onto the field and upward into the stands, prompting thousands of spectators to evacuate their seats, videos show. Bottlenecks formed at the exits, which were only wide enough for one or two people to pass at a time, eyewitnesses said.
Fans, some angry about their team losing the game, ran onto the soccer pitch and surrounded the goalkeeper after the match ended. Two minutes after the players were escorted off the field, security personnel guarding the exit began pushing back the crowd, scattering the fans. Tensions rapidly escalated.
Spectators in sections 9 and 10 told The Post they coughed and their eyes started tearing almost immediately. In sections 12 and 13, rows of people were almost entirely blanketed by chemicals. Cries from tribune 13 echoed through the stands, witnesses said. As gas and smoke wafted through sections 12 and 13, many spectators jumped back onto the field to escape it, according to 10 witnesses interviewed by The Post. Others who tried to leave found the exits blocked, prompting them to jump onto the field, too, in search of another way out.Officers then fired more tear gas toward the southern end of the stadium, some directly into the stands.
Ranto Sibarani, a human rights lawyer in Medan, Indonesia, who reviewed video footage, said authorities appeared to be firing nonlethal munitions “sporadically” and without a clear strategy. There were local, national and military forces on the pitch, and it wasn’t clear who was in charge. The result was a massive, uncoordinated use of chemicals, Sibarani said.
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