“Under international law, police officers should only ever use lethal force as a last resort. This means when such force is strictly necessary to protect themselves or others from the imminent threat of death or serious injury, and only when other options for de-escalation are insufficient.” Every year this quote by Amnesty International seems to gain more relevance. Unfortunately, last Saturday, a soccer game in Indonesia proved these word’s importance once again. When Arema FC lost against Persebaya Surabaya – a team they’ve beaten for over 20 years now and expected to beat again – fans were upset and stormed the field.
The events that happened next are still hard to comprehend. According to the New York Times, several witnesses claim that the police started to beat fans with batons, and later continuously shot tear gas into the stands which led the overcrowded stadium to run away in panic for the exits. With a stampede that left a minimum of 125 dead and 300 injured, this became one of the most deadly stadium disasters in history. The cause? I believe it to be police brutality which is the outcome of immediately resorting to brute force, being highly militarized, and lacking in proper training.
Stadium disasters such as this have happened before. all throughout Europe and Asia. In Ghana in 2001, police shot tear gas in the stadium, and people ran for the exits. In the 1964 Peruvian Olympic Trials, roughly 300 people died due to a fan storming that led to tear gas being shot. Last year in Cameroon, a similar tragedy occurred that led to eight people dying.
Though one could blame the fanaticism of the fans at these events for the tragedies that occur, it is the aggressive tactics of the police that are to blame as well. “The Indonesian National Police has struggled for decades to rid itself of allegations of corruption and brutality” writes the Washington Post, and from my research, the Indonesian policing system has proven the Post right.
In April, officers shot tear gas “at a crowd of peaceful student demonstrators” (New York Times), and in August, public trust in the police dropped to 54.2 percent due to reports being made public of a police general killing his own officer and “instructing other officers to cover it up” (New York Times). These accounts show that the tragedy that occurred this past Saturday aligns with how the police have always acted in Indonesia: brute force first. It isn’t a surprise then that most of the police forces’ money is spent on batons, tear gas, and other items used to suppress protests instead of on proper training.
The main question I had: “why was tear gas even used?” — even FIFA has a rule that bans the usage of tear gas. The answer? I’m not really sure myself, but I do know that it should be the very last option to think of. When being interviewed by the Washington Post, Usman Hamid, executive director of Amnesty International Indonesia, said that, “tear gas should only be used to disperse crowds when widespread violence has occurred and when other methods have failed.”
Fights or field rushing at soccer matches happens frequently in Indonesia due to the intense rivalry between fans, so the police should know or at least have a plan on how to handle the situation. Tear gas or other chemicals shouldn’t be the first thing officers should reach for or think of to use and, hypothetically, if they did exhaust all other options, the usage of tear gas should’ve been done more carefully and safely – warn those in the stands that tear gas will be used, ensure that there are ways for people to leave safely, and communicate with any police outside of the location of the situation.
However, I do believe that the usage of brute force by police officers is a global issue that needs to be solved, but is difficult to fix. It means re-constructing an entire system that, in some countries, is closely connected to the government. Putting more money into policing which few countries have the means to do; or re-allocating policing funds into better training programs that some countries don’t have available to them. Nevertheless, police brutality is a cycle that needs to be stopped. It has gone on for far too long, and police involved in brutality are often not held accountable which contributes to the issue. When not held accountable for their actions, any authority figure will abuse their power.
Kenzie Nguyen is from Minneapolis, Minn.
Her major is undeclared.
