{"id":426394,"date":"2024-12-03T08:21:24","date_gmt":"2024-12-03T08:21:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=426394"},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-29T14:00:00","slug":"Stampede-kills-at-least-56-at-Guinea-football-match","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/Stampede-kills-at-least-56-at-Guinea-football-match\/","title":{"rendered":"Stampede kills at least 56 at Guinea football match"},"content":{"rendered":"

A stampede at a football match dedicated to Guinea’s junta chief killed at least 56 people, the government said Monday, as the opposition accused the military-led authorities of being “directly responsible” for the tragedy.<\/p>\n

Fans at Sunday’s game in the second city of N’Zerekore invaded the pitch after one or two players were sent off and a penalty was awarded to the opposing side Labe at the end of the game, witnesses said.<\/p>\n

The events had initially been reported as clashes between fans.<\/p>\n

Officials watching the match, including two ministers, were prevented from leaving, prompting stone throwing and the firing of tear gas by security forces, a witness said, speaking on condition of anonymity.<\/p>\n

“Panic quickly set in, leading to an uncontrollable stampede,” he said.<\/p>\n

“People were trampled underfoot or injured as they tried to flee,” he added.<\/p>\n

The match in the southeastern city was the final of a tournament organised in honour of Guinea’s junta leader, General Mamady Doumbouya, who seized power in a 2021 coup and has installed himself as president.<\/p>\n

The opposition has accused the junta of using sport for political ends.<\/p>\n

Videos circulating on social media, which AFP was unable to immediately verify, show a huge crowd packed in the dilapidated stadium.<\/p>\n

“The thousands of people at the stadium were gripped by panic and fear. It was every man for himself,” said a local official, speaking on condition of anonymity.<\/p>\n

“Protests of dissatisfaction with refereeing decisions led to stone-throwing by supporters, resulting in fatal stampedes,” the government said in a statement which was read out on national television.<\/p>\n

“Hospital services have put the provisional death toll at 56, with several others injured,” it added, describing the incident as a “tragic event”.<\/p>\n

– ‘Emergency mission’ –<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n

Videos posted on social media showed chaotic scenes, with people climbing what appear to be the stadium’s perimeter walls to escape.<\/p>\n

Others showed numerous bodies lying on the ground.<\/p>\n

Doctors told AFP on Sunday that dozens had died.<\/p>\n

Access to verified information in the remote part of the West African country is limited.<\/p>\n

Local media reported that hospital wards and a morgue were overwhelmed by the injured and dead.<\/p>\n

“The government is doing everything possible to respond to this tragic event,” Doumbouya said in a statement on social media.<\/p>\n

“An emergency mission led by the prime minister has been dispatched,” he added.<\/p>\n

Doumbouya said a commission of enquiry would be set up “to rule on the causes of this tragedy and to determine who is responsible”.<\/p>\n

The junta chief called for calm in the West African nation, which has a turbulent political history and remains poor despite considerable natural resources.<\/p>\n

The crackdown on an opposition rally at a stadium in the capital Conakry left at least 156 people dead in 2009, according to a UN-mandated international commission of enquiry.<\/p>\n

– ‘Cynical use of sport’ –<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n

Such football tournaments and other public gatherings have become common in Guinea in recent weeks, in what is widely seen as a campaign to promote Doumbouya’s candidacy in any future presidential election.<\/p>\n

The military seized power by force in September 2021 by overthrowing civilian President Alpha Conde.<\/p>\n

Under international pressure, the junta pledged to hand power back to a civilian government by the end of 2024 but has since made clear it will not.<\/p>\n

Several of Doumbouya’s aides have recently expressed their support for his possible presidential bid.<\/p>\n

One of the last remaining dissident voices in Guinea, the National Front for the Defence of the Constitution (FNDC), published a statement expressing its “outrage” at the tragedy in N’Zerekore.<\/p>\n

It said it held the junta chief and his government “directly responsible for this disaster, which cost the lives of innocent citizens, including many children”.<\/p>\n

“This demonstrates the cynical use of sport by the junta, exploiting these images of mobilisation for political ends,” the statement added.<\/p>\n

Former president Conde expressed “profound sadness and boundless outrage” in a social media post.<\/p>\n

“In a context where the country is already marked by tensions and restrictions, this tragedy highlights the dangers of irresponsible organisation and a lack of adequate preparation,” he said.<\/p>\n

bm-lal\/acc\/rlp<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The match in the southeastern city of N’Zerekore was the final of a tournament organised in honour of Guinea’s junta leader<\/p>\n

-Gillian HANDYSIDE, Kun TIAN
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A stampede at a football match dedicated to Guinea’s junta chief killed at least 56…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23812],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-426394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=426394"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426394\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=426394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=426394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=426394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}