(Reuters) – Chile’s president Gabriel Boric criticised violence in stadiums after the derby between Universidad de Chile and Universidad Catolica was suspended on Sunday due to disorder, fireworks and noise bombs in the stands of the Estadio Municipal Ester Roa Rebolledo in Concepcion.
The National Professional Football Association (ANFP) said they will reschedule the match without spectators, as they will also request a meeting with the President to work against violence.
“We will not let a small group of delinquents take over the stadiums at the expense of the great majority who come to watch a show in peace and joy,” Boric, who is a Universidad Catolica supporter, said on Twitter.
“We join the words of the President of the Republic, so that those responsible for these events receive the full weight of the law, requesting his support to combat these acts of violence, which escape the normal regulations… and require the work of all sectors,” the ANFP said in a statement on Sunday.
The governing body will also call an urgent meeting of Chilean football to speed up the work of security in order to toughen the penalties and punishments for violence in stadiums.
The lack of control by police and clubs has turned stadiums into hostile territory and has become one of the biggest problems in Chilean football.
Boric has condemned violence in stadiums before. He addressed the issue in relation to the serious incidents involving Colo Colo and Universidad Catolica supporters at last year’s Copa Libertadores matches.
“The clubs have to take charge… or rather end, any kind of link with organisations such as the barras bravas. There will be an intervention in football matters,” he said at the time.
(Reporting by Angelica Medina in Mexico City, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
