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... turns into an international incident.
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Chile gives Canada a yellow card over soccer dust-up
Canadian Press
July 20, 2007 at 8:03 PM EDT
TORONTO — Chilean officials pointed the finger squarely at Toronto police Friday after a bloody post-match brawl between irate players and pepper-spraying police escalated into an international incident.
Chile's president denounced police reaction during the melee as "unjustified use of force" and her government is lodging a formal complaint with Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay to demand an explanation for why police used "such unusual methods" to deal with the situation.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who was in Haiti after visiting Chile recently, said only that "international soccer matches are hotly contested and often become very emotional."
A senior Chilean soccer official apologized Friday in Toronto for the players' behaviour, but said the use of force by police was unwarranted.
"I personally saw that the police of Toronto did not act as our police is used to acting with people that are just playing a football game," said Harold Mayne-Nicholls.
"For us, as the chairman of the Football Federation of Chile, we cannot accept those kind of things coming from the police. Our players are 19-year-old, 20-year-old kids. They were playing football and they never deserved the treatment they were receiving."
The fight, described by FIFA president Sepp Blatter as a "black mark" on what had so far been a successful tournament, erupted Thursday night as members of the Chilean under-20 World Cup team were getting onto their bus following their bitter 3-0 semifinal loss to Argentina.
Mayne-Nicholls wouldn't say what prompted the fight, only that the players were relaxed in the changing room after the match.
"I'm sure they are completely innocent on this but I want to know exactly what happened," he said.
Toronto police Chief Bill Blair said officers were forced to take action when a dispute broke out between a Chilean player and a rival fan as the team was leaving the National Soccer Stadium near the city's waterfront.
"Members of the Chilean team then decided to direct some of their aggressive behaviour towards my officers," Blair said in a release.
"The job of my officers was to respond in a firm, but fair, manner to end that violence. They are trained to do so, and that is what they did."
The melee, which prompted officers to use a Taser and pepper spray, soon escalated as players on the bus began throwing things at police through the windows and tried to grab officers from inside the damaged bus, according to eyewitness accounts.
The bus was parked at the side of the stadium, where a large fence kept hundreds of angry, chanting fans from getting closer. Police eventually handcuffed several players, some of them bloodied and screaming, and escorted them back into the locker-room area while shocked FIFA and Canadian soccer officials looked on.
The entire Chilean team was later detained by police at the stadium, said a FIFA spokesman, although there were no charges were laid.
There are no plans to investigate the matter further, although police may respond to the allegations levelled against them, said Toronto police spokesman Const. George Schuurman.
"As far as I know, it's a case closed," he said.
"It happened last night, people were arrested, they were investigated, they were released, no charges — and that's the end of it."
The match, an ill-tempered affair with nine yellow cards — seven to Chile and two to Argentina — saw two Chilean players ejected from the game. German referee Wolfgang Stark called 53 fouls — 30 against Chile.
When the final whistle blew, several Chilean players tried to get at the officiating crew. Others stepped in to keep them away. Two police officers escorted the officiating crew off the pitch, but they stopped as they neared the tunnel, eyeing the angry crowd.
Eventually they made a run for it, dashing to the safety of the tunnel below the stands.
Reaction in Chile has been unanimously supportive of the players and furious at Toronto authorities. Chilean Interior Minister Belisario Velasco has called for preventive security at the Canadian and German embassies in Santiago, although he said neither embassy had received a threat.
Chilean newspapers used words such as "brutal" to describe the melee after the game and quoted players who said they were beaten by police. Radio-Cooperativa, a major Chilean radio station, said the president of the country's soccer federation was also hurt in the fracas.
"They hit me with an electrical current and I fainted," player Isaias Perralta told Chilean media. "When I regained consciousness, I saw 10 police officers were hitting me and throwing acid in my face."
A FIFA disciplinary committee is investigating the incident and will take "adequate actions," said Blatter.
Blatter, who expressed his regrets over the incident to Toronto Mayor David Miller, said Miller told him police were perhaps a little "rough" in their response.
Miller denied saying that, adding that although he'd spoken to Blair, he can't comment on the police response since he wasn't there.
"One thing I do want to say is that the duty inspector who was there last night showed tremendous good sense and defused the incident and sent the players back in the care of their coach, which was the appropriate conduct," Miller said.
"And I think he was a real credit to the Toronto police service."
The Chilean team scrapped a scheduled 12:15 p.m. ET practice Friday at the National Soccer Stadium but are expected to participate in Sunday's match.
*****
CBC news clip (Youtube)
Link to article
Chile gives Canada a yellow card over soccer dust-up
Canadian Press
July 20, 2007 at 8:03 PM EDT
TORONTO — Chilean officials pointed the finger squarely at Toronto police Friday after a bloody post-match brawl between irate players and pepper-spraying police escalated into an international incident.
Chile's president denounced police reaction during the melee as "unjustified use of force" and her government is lodging a formal complaint with Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay to demand an explanation for why police used "such unusual methods" to deal with the situation.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who was in Haiti after visiting Chile recently, said only that "international soccer matches are hotly contested and often become very emotional."
A senior Chilean soccer official apologized Friday in Toronto for the players' behaviour, but said the use of force by police was unwarranted.
"I personally saw that the police of Toronto did not act as our police is used to acting with people that are just playing a football game," said Harold Mayne-Nicholls.
"For us, as the chairman of the Football Federation of Chile, we cannot accept those kind of things coming from the police. Our players are 19-year-old, 20-year-old kids. They were playing football and they never deserved the treatment they were receiving."
The fight, described by FIFA president Sepp Blatter as a "black mark" on what had so far been a successful tournament, erupted Thursday night as members of the Chilean under-20 World Cup team were getting onto their bus following their bitter 3-0 semifinal loss to Argentina.
Mayne-Nicholls wouldn't say what prompted the fight, only that the players were relaxed in the changing room after the match.
"I'm sure they are completely innocent on this but I want to know exactly what happened," he said.
Toronto police Chief Bill Blair said officers were forced to take action when a dispute broke out between a Chilean player and a rival fan as the team was leaving the National Soccer Stadium near the city's waterfront.
"Members of the Chilean team then decided to direct some of their aggressive behaviour towards my officers," Blair said in a release.
"The job of my officers was to respond in a firm, but fair, manner to end that violence. They are trained to do so, and that is what they did."
The melee, which prompted officers to use a Taser and pepper spray, soon escalated as players on the bus began throwing things at police through the windows and tried to grab officers from inside the damaged bus, according to eyewitness accounts.
The bus was parked at the side of the stadium, where a large fence kept hundreds of angry, chanting fans from getting closer. Police eventually handcuffed several players, some of them bloodied and screaming, and escorted them back into the locker-room area while shocked FIFA and Canadian soccer officials looked on.
The entire Chilean team was later detained by police at the stadium, said a FIFA spokesman, although there were no charges were laid.
There are no plans to investigate the matter further, although police may respond to the allegations levelled against them, said Toronto police spokesman Const. George Schuurman.
"As far as I know, it's a case closed," he said.
"It happened last night, people were arrested, they were investigated, they were released, no charges — and that's the end of it."
The match, an ill-tempered affair with nine yellow cards — seven to Chile and two to Argentina — saw two Chilean players ejected from the game. German referee Wolfgang Stark called 53 fouls — 30 against Chile.
When the final whistle blew, several Chilean players tried to get at the officiating crew. Others stepped in to keep them away. Two police officers escorted the officiating crew off the pitch, but they stopped as they neared the tunnel, eyeing the angry crowd.
Eventually they made a run for it, dashing to the safety of the tunnel below the stands.
Reaction in Chile has been unanimously supportive of the players and furious at Toronto authorities. Chilean Interior Minister Belisario Velasco has called for preventive security at the Canadian and German embassies in Santiago, although he said neither embassy had received a threat.
Chilean newspapers used words such as "brutal" to describe the melee after the game and quoted players who said they were beaten by police. Radio-Cooperativa, a major Chilean radio station, said the president of the country's soccer federation was also hurt in the fracas.
"They hit me with an electrical current and I fainted," player Isaias Perralta told Chilean media. "When I regained consciousness, I saw 10 police officers were hitting me and throwing acid in my face."
A FIFA disciplinary committee is investigating the incident and will take "adequate actions," said Blatter.
Blatter, who expressed his regrets over the incident to Toronto Mayor David Miller, said Miller told him police were perhaps a little "rough" in their response.
Miller denied saying that, adding that although he'd spoken to Blair, he can't comment on the police response since he wasn't there.
"One thing I do want to say is that the duty inspector who was there last night showed tremendous good sense and defused the incident and sent the players back in the care of their coach, which was the appropriate conduct," Miller said.
"And I think he was a real credit to the Toronto police service."
The Chilean team scrapped a scheduled 12:15 p.m. ET practice Friday at the National Soccer Stadium but are expected to participate in Sunday's match.
*****
CBC news clip (Youtube)
