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.