Fan dies, child blinded and TV cameraman shot at after violence at football match

A 57-year-old football fan has died, a child blinded, and a camera shot at after violence broke out between police and fans during Boca Juniors’ clash with Gimnasia

One football fan died and hundreds more injured after clashes between supporters and police at Boca Juniors’ fixture with Gimnasia in the early hours of Friday morning.

Fans clashed with police as they tried to enter an already packed Estadio Juan Carmelo Zerillo. Police attempted to de-escalate the situation by using tear gas and rubber bullets – which caused the game to be suspended after nine minutes.

A 57-year-old Gimnasia fan, who suffered from heart problems, was pronounced dead on the way to hospital, Buenos Aires security minister Sergio Berni revealed. While a small child has been left blinded by the tear gas.

The Argentine FA said: “The AFA strongly repudiates the events that took place today in the vicinity of Gimnasia stadium and expresses its commitment to continue working to eradicate this kind of incidents that tarnishes the spirit of football.”

While Gimnasia’s Leonardo Morales added: “My two-year-old and six-month-old sons could not breathe. We feel desperate and worried about all the people in the stands. This is crazy.

“We were playing a normal football game and it turned into this and the feeling that our relatives almost died.”

Horrifying footage from TyCSports showed their cameraman, capturing the footage, being shot at by Argentine police. The policeman can be seen looking down the camera before firing a rubber bullet, which left the cameraman on the floor.

More footage shows terrified fans cowering in a corner as police on horses pass them. While more reports said the stadium announcer was naming children who were separated from their parents in the commotion.

Boca fans had been banned from attending the match after measures are already in place to reduce violence and chaos in Argentine football in 2013. Buenos Aires province has prohibited supporters of visiting teams from attending games.

This is the second tear gas incident in football in a matter of a week after 131 football fans lost their lives in Indonesia.

Police had used tear gas on the crowd and as fans ran to the exits, to find they were locked, a crush occurred – claiming over 100 lives.

Local reports suggested Boca’s clash with Gimnasia could be played behind closed doors at 11am on Friday (3pm UK time) – however, these are yet to be confirmed by the Argentine FA.

Gimnasia’s president said after the incident: “AFA will do whatever possible to play this match.” The two sides are still within a shout of the title with four games left of the season.