CONAKRY, Guinea (AP) — Fifty-six people, including children, died after fans at a soccer match allegedly clashed over a controversial referee decision, authorities said Monday.
The stampede occurred on Sunday afternoon at the stadium in the city of Nzérékoré during the final of a local tournament between the teams of Labé and Nzérékoré in honor of Guinea’s military leader, Mamadi Doumbouya.
“During the stampede, casualties were recorded,” Guinean Prime Minister Amadou Oury Bah said on platform X, without giving details. Regional authorities were working to restore calm in the area, he added.
Local media reported that security forces attempted to use tear gas to restore calm after the chaos that followed a disputed prison.
“This (the disputed penalty) angered the fans, who threw stones. This is how the security services began to use tear gas,” local media Media Guinea reported. He said several of the dead were children, and some of the wounded treated at a regional hospital were in critical condition.
Videos that appeared to have been recorded at the scene showed a section of the stadium shouting and protesting the officiating before clashes broke out as fans rushed onto the field. People ran trying to escape the stadium, many of them jumping over the high fence.
Videos also showed many people lying on the ground in what appeared to be a hospital while a crowd gathered nearby, some assisting the injured.
Authorities were investigating to determine who was responsible for Sunday’s stampede, Bah said in a statement read on national television.
A coalition of political parties known as the National Alliance for Alternation and Democracy said in a statement that the tournament was organized to encourage support for the military leader’s “illegal and inappropriate” political aspirations.
Guinea has been ruled by the military since soldiers overthrew President Alpha Conde in 2021. It is one of a growing number of West African countries, such as Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, where the military has seized power and delayed a return to government. civil.
Doumbouya took power three years ago arguing he was preventing the country from descending into chaos and criticized the previous government for broken promises. However, he has been criticized for not meeting the expectations he himself generated.
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This story was translated from English by an AP editor with the help of a generative artificial intelligence tool.
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