A brawl between supporters in Mexico left 17 dead? – Liberation

Question asked on March 7 by Baptiste,

Hello,

Your question relates to the events which took place on Saturday March 5, in Mexico, during a football match between the Querétaro club (at home) and Atlas FC, from Guadalajara. The game was interrupted around the 60th minute due to a fight between supporters which broke out in the stands, leading Fifa to react. In a statement, the International Football Federation said “shocked” by the incident.

Images posted on social media show members of the public invading the field in order to flee the violence. Most of the players have returned to the locker room.

Another video – very graphic – is also broadcast on Twitter. It shows several men lying in the aisles of the stadium. Some of them are naked and visibly unconscious. Some of them are lying in a pool of blood. In these images, a person can be seen picking a victim’s pockets. Tweet caption urges police to go “in the stadium picking up the corpses”.

However, contrary to what these images might lead one to believe, the authorities assure that these fights have not, at present, caused any death. This was confirmed by the civil protection coordination of the State of Querétaro, on the morning of March 6. “Following the events that took place on Saturday at the Corregidora stadium, we inform that to date there are no deceased persons, 22 people injured, 9 of whom have been transferred to the General Hospital and, among these, two injured serious. The others are in stable condition. All of the injured are men and four have been confirmed to be from the state of Jalisco [d’où vient l’Atlas FC, de Guadalajara, ndlr].»

In comments, Internet users denounce a lie and relay the shocking photos on which appear bloody and inert victims. Mauricio Kuri, the governor of the state of Querétaro, confirmed later in the day that no deaths had been recorded to date. “We are not going to hide anything. I know the footage from the stadium is disturbing and names of deceased people are being released. But today we confirm that fortunately these people are alive and receiving medical attention. We have no reason to lie, we will continue to make all verified information publicly available.”

In his speech, he nevertheless reassessed the assessment given by civil protection and indicated that in total, “26 people had requested medical attention and 23 remained hospitalized, including three in serious condition”. Note that it is not excluded that the balance sheet will increase.

The governor also asked the Querétaro public prosecutor’s office to “determine the responsibilities of all the actors involved: the management, the teams, the public officials and of course the aggressors”. A investigation was opened at midday on Monday March 7 for “attempted homicide”, “violence during sporting events”, “criminal association” and “offences committed by officials”. In this case, the security management of the stadium is indeed seriously called into question. The national senator of the State of Querétaro, Lupita Murguia, indicated that five public officials had been suspended for “non-compliance with the protocol”.