LIMA: Football fans angered by their team’s elimination from Peru’s second-division playoff stormed the pitch and clashed with police in riots that reportedly injured at least 100 people.
Local businesses were also vandalized and three police cars were destroyed late Sunday in the violent disturbances in Huamanga, the capital of southern Ayacucho province, officials said Monday.
Fans at the Cumana Stadium started the riots after visiting Sport Huancayo eliminated Sport Huamanga from the Copa Peru tournament 5-4 on aggregate. The winner of the second-division championship is promoted to Peru’s top league.
After Huancayo scored toward the end of the game, Huamanga’s fans started throwing rocks and other objects onto the field to protest a penalty awarded by referee Alejandro Villanueva.
Police tried to control the crowd by launching tear gas into the stands, but the fans then stormed the field and tried to attack the Huancayo players and Villanueva.
Villanueva told local media that he and the players took refuge in the locker-rooms for the duration of the riots, and were then escorted by police out of the stadium.
TV images showed the furious fans chasing and beating police officers who attempted to quell the violent crowd. Three officers were injured, and rioters set fire to one police vehicle, bashed the windows out of a second and flipped over a third, Huamanga police said.
Police declined to comment on the total number injured in the disturbances, but local media reported a count of more than 100.
this news published by www.apakistannews.com
