CONAKRY, Guinea (AP) — Fifty-six individuals had been killed and a number of other injured in a stampede at a soccer stadium in southern Guinea, following clashes between followers, Guinea’s authorities stated Monday.
Authorities are conducting an investigation to ascertain these chargeable for the stampede on Sunday, Communications Minister Fana Soumah stated in an announcement learn on nationwide tv.
Among the victims are a number of kids based on native media and a coalition of political events.
The stampede broke out on Sunday afternoon on the stadium within the metropolis of Nzerekore in the course of the ultimate of an area event between the Labe and Nzerekore groups in honor of Guinea’s navy chief, Mamadi Doumbouya, Guinea’s Prime Minister Amadou Oury Bah stated on the X platform.
“During the stampede, victims had been recorded,” Bah stated, with out giving particulars. The regional authorities are working to revive calm within the space, he added.
Local media reported that safety forces tried to make use of tear gasoline (two phrases) to revive calm after the chaos that adopted a disputed penalty.
“This (the disputed penalty) angered supporters who threw stones. This is how the safety providers used tear gasoline,” Media Guinea, an area information web site, reported. It stated a number of of these killed had been kids whereas a number of the injured being handled at a regional hospital are in vital situation.
Videos that gave the impression to be from the scene confirmed followers in a bit of the stadium shouting and protesting the refereeing earlier than clashes broke out as individuals poured onto the sector.
People had been working as they tried to flee from the stadium, a lot of them leaping the excessive fence.
Videos additionally confirmed many individuals mendacity on the ground in what seemed like a hospital as a crowd gathered close by, some helping the wounded.
The National Alliance for Alternation and Democracy opposition coalition referred to as for an investigation. It stated the event was organized to drum up help for the “unlawful and inappropriate” political ambitions of the navy chief.
Guinea has been led by the navy since troopers ousted President Alpha Conde in 2021. It is one in every of a rising variety of West African nations, together with Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, the place the navy has taken energy and delayed a return to civilian rule.
Doumbouya, who ousted the president three years in the past, stated he was stopping the nation from slipping into chaos and chastised the earlier authorities for damaged guarantees. He has, nonetheless, been criticized for not assembly the expectations that he raised.
