650 football hooligans get the boot
650 football hooligans get the boot
Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Around 650 supporters of East Java's Persebaya soccer team were
sent home over the weekend for their alleged involvement in a
violent clash with the supporters of another team last Friday.
Coordinator of the Persebaya Supporters Forum Wastoni Suhari
said on Sunday that some of those sent home had fallen ill while
in the city.
"Yesterday, we sent home 650 supporters, including those who
were wounded (during Friday's clash) and those who fell ill due
to the downpour last Friday," he said.
Wastoni said the supporters had returned home in two separate
trains. He did not say who paid for the train tickets of the
supporters, many of whom had arrived in the Jakarta with next to
no money.
Persebaya supporters have gained a reputation as being soccer
hooligans, locally known as bonek, which stands for bondo nekat
(reckless people). Last Friday night, a group of supporters
became involved in a clash with armed supporters of South
Sulawesi's PSM soccer team at the Bung Karno Sports Complex.
About 2,000 police officers and soldiers arrived in about 100
trucks and buses to disperse the crowd. But scores of supporters
who had been pelted with stones were already wounded.
While hundreds were sent home, several hundred more supporters
arrived from Surabaya on Saturday and Sunday.
Wastoni could not put an exact figure to the new arrivals but
said that their arrival was coordinated.
He said that the organizers and police should establish a
mechanism to prevent supporters of different teams from meeting
one other.
Meanwhile, stones were also thrown by supporters of both teams
prior to the match between Jakarta soccer team Persija and
Makassar's team PSM.
Some 400 supporters of PSM, known as Mac's Man, met with some
100 supporters of Persebaya outside the soccer stadium.
Knowing that their number was greater, PSM supporters provoked
Persebaya supporters by shouting "boneks are our enemy." One of
the PSM supporters aimed a rock at a Persebaya supporter.
Two groups then began to hurl rocks at each other.
Some 300 police officers prevented the clash from worsening by
shooting water canons into the crowd.
Around 5,000 Persebaya supporters arrived at the Bung Karno
sports complex, the venue of the game, minutes before the second
match began at 4:30 p.m.
Organizers and police officers made every effort to prevent
clashes among the supporters.
The organizers and the police officers allowed Persebaya
supporters to enter the soccer stadium before the first match was
over to avoid a confrontation with PSM supporters outside the
stadium.
Police officers also searched supporters for sharp weapons.
They guided Persebaya supporters into the stadium at 4:15 p.m.