Americas

Americas

135 arrested, 11 injured in soccer fan clash in Colombia

16 March 2012 03:42 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Colombian police on Thursday said they have arrested 135 people in the soccer fan violent clashes that left 11 people injured in the southwestern city of Cali on Wednesday, APA reports quoting XInhua.

Mayor of Cali Rodrigo Guerrero said that before the violent clashes between fans from America and Deportivo Cali on Wednesday, he proposed not to schedule matches on Saturday night.

Guerrero said that every time matches are played on night schedule it is necessary to display about 1,000 police officers to guard the field and the places around. This causes to leave unprotected many streets in the city, especially during the weekends, when there is a higher crime impact.

The violence arose although the fan groups of both teams had agreed a peace pact before the match.

Cali’s Sports and Recreation Secretary Clara Luz Roldan said that the purpose of Guerrero’s proposal is to "promote that the families attend the stadium on Sundays, as it commonly occurred years ago."

Soccer matches in Colombia are sometimes the occasion for violence and confrontation. The peace pacts between fan groups haven’t stopped the clashes at the end of some matches.