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City probes students involved in soccer riot
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Match organizers and a police officer stop a Jakarta Soccer Club supporter who ran onto the field during a match between Persija and South Sumatra’s Sriwijaya FC at the Bung Karno Sports Stadium in Jakarta on Friday. (Superball via tribunnews.com/Feri Setiawan)
T
he Jakarta administration is investigating students who may have been involved in soccer violence during a match between the Jakarta Soccer Club (Persija) and South Sumatra’s Sriwijaya FC at Gelora Bung Karno on Friday evening.
Police said those who were involved in the violence were mostly adolescents, Jakmania soccer fans -- Persija supporters.
The incident had left six police officers injured and one drinks vendor dead. Nineteen club supporters suffered from shortness of breath because of tear gas. Two cars were damaged and one motorcycle was burned during the incident.
“We are investigating whether those who were involved in the incident were students. If they were students, we want the city social agency to handle them,” Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama said at City Hall on Monday.
The governor said the administration could revoke its financial assistance to the students, which is channeled through the Jakarta Smart Card (KJP), if the involved students are KJP holders.
He expressed the hope that schools and teachers were concerned about the behavior of their students who were frequently involved in such riots.
A soccer match between Persija and Sriwijaya FC was terminated on Friday evening because of a riot that occurred after Sriwijaya stole a point to make the score one to nothing. Angry spectators broke fences in two sections of the GBK stadium and ran onto the field. They attacked police who tried to stop them. (bbn)
