Friday, March 29, 2024

Police defend Heroes Stadium tear gas attack

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Police have justified the use of teargas as a crowd control measure during last evening’s Under-20 Africa Cup semifinal match between Zambia and South Africa at Heroes Stadium in Lusaka.

Tunisian referee Sadok Selmi stopped play in the 105th minute after players, coaches,match officials and fans were chocked by the teargas.

Police spokesperson Esther Katongo said officers were forced to discharge teargas outside Heroes Stadium to disperse unruly fans who
attempted to force their way into the stadium.

“There was a mob outside which mobilised and wanted to break through and force their way into the stadium.

After police repelled them, they started throwing all sorts of missiles at police officers and this prompted officers to discharge teargas to disperse them,” Katongo said.

“All this was happening outside but due to wind, the gas also affected those that were inside,” she added.

Katongo said Police should not be condemned for discharging teargas outside the stadium.

“People should not rush into condemning but should also look at the reasons why Police discharged the teargas. Police officers are people who think and reason like those people saying they should have done this or that,” she said.

Zambia went on to beat South Africa 1-0 to reach the final to be played on Sunday at Heroes Stadium.

58 COMMENTS

  1. Why did you fail to disperse with teargas the panga carrying cadres who went to LAZ offices to express their ignorance without a Police Permit?

    • If police can’t mention the culprits or deadNBC can’t show and mention the unruly hoodlums then just know it is the green maggots.

    • Its al PF cadres who wanted to enter the stadium for free because they feel every thing is for free for them.

    • One day these PF cadres will cause a serious catastrophe. Surely, how do you go to the stadium to watch an international game without a ticket? It’s appalling.

    • @ 1.3 THE PRINCE,

      Why bring in PF in the issue, you cant talk about your party UPND?

      I wonder whether UPND supporters have ever asked HH what was in his mind when he was generating those preliminaries as a delay tactic?

      Or do these UPND supporters assume that HH had no idea what the constitution says regarding his petition in terms of timeframe?

      Or, did UPND think they were fixing ECL by willingly expiring the petition?

      Now, Mumbi used the word ‘disingeneous’ when referring to HH’s behaviour, while Amos used the term delusion when referring to the same man.

      Do you think they were wrong or correct? Give reasons for your arguments.

    • South Africa should dispute the results because the tear gas may have caused missery to their players who are not used to being teargassed unlike their parents and Zambians under Lungu who have gotten used to being teargassed.

      That was injustice orchestrated by Lungu ‘s PF police in revenge for exposing Lungu in South African planned protests.

    • If this was in Europe the other team could complain especially the goalkeeper after the game and match reviewed!!

  2. Ichi ichimupashi cha hooliganism and unruly behavior ba Pama Fi cadre mwachifumya kwi?

  3. WHAT HAPPENED TO THE WATER CANNONS THAT WERE DONATED SOMETIME BACK? PLEASE BA POLISA THERE ARE BETTER WAYS TO MANAGE CROWD CONTROL NOWADAYS THAN RESORTING TO COLONIAL METHODS. MA ZAMBIANS YOU ARE ALWAYS THINKING STONE AGE, EVEN MOST ARGUMENTS I SEE ON THESE BLOGS BAFFLE ME!

    • Excatly the point…..the problem with our police everything is confrontational. a Seasoned Police who has gone to lilayi to learn crown control coupled with the knowledge of CAF regulation and the presence of thier commandar in Thief…..oops sorry chief( anyway who cares) would have thot Barabas way. Or are we still saying we dont have water. Reasoning madam Police lady is thinking of plan B which will equally do the job……. Tell me you thot of wind after u threw the tear gas……Now have a traffic Policewho can give you a ticket and block your plate numberr to buy any motor vehicle fimo fimo….. but coz he is rigid ati benangu ba ma taba..he troubles you over 300 kwacha when u trying to go The Mutati way of Visa payment hence u not having liquid cash…jst coz heis building…

  4. Absolute rubbish from the police!
    First of all, its mostly kids that wait outside the stadium to go in ‘iya n’gombe’ towards the end of matches. Therefore i disagree with the police spokesperson reason of so called unruly mob outside the stadium. Tear gas should have been the last option especially with so much at stack for Zambia to impress in order to have the chance of hosting even bigger tournaments.
    If i was the president in that stadium i would demand for that officer’s badge!

    • @peace for zambia! it is not UPND talking, it is reasonable concerned zambians iwee kapuli. iwee fyonse ufimwena muli PF. get a life boy!

    • Somebody packed teargas canisters in anticipation of unruly conduct. They could have driven a fire truck there. This is called logistics.

  5. One day these PF cadre will cause a serious catastrophe. Surely, how do you go to the stadium without a ticket?

    • @ 6 Shot Put,

      Why bring in PF in the issue, you cant talk about your party UPND?

      I wonder whether UPND supporters have ever asked HH what was in his mind when he was generating those preliminaries as a delay tactic?

      Or do these UPND supporters assume that HH had no idea what the constitution says regarding his petition in terms of timeframe?

      Or, did UPND think they were fixing ECL by willingly expiring the petition?

      Now, Mumbi used the word ‘disingeneous’ when referring to HH’s behaviour, while Amos used the term delusion when referring to the same man.

      Do you think they were wrong or correct? Give reasons for your arguments.

    • Duplicate comment from peace for Zambia, his usual run off the mill comment, ignore him his brain has limited capacity, can only churn out same sh*t.

    • @ 6.2 ECL-Endless Crying Lunatics BREAD HEAD,

      Your brain has a variety of ideas unlike me as you say.

      But now, the thing is the variety that comes from you brain makes no sense at all though you believe it does.

      Even here am sure you will defend that what you say makes sense.

      Why tell people to ignore what I say? Are saying these people are not able to see what makes sense and what does?

      Are these people not able to choose one their on what to ignore and what not?

      What makes me wonder is your failure to ignore what I say if it does not make sense to you or bother you.

      It it does make sense to you, just proceed to the next.

      But I give you express permission, you are free to write a comment against each my posts. State: ‘ ignore this, ignore him, etc’ and the…

    • Contd…

      But I give you express permission, you are free to write a comment against each my posts. State: ‘ ignore this, ignore him, etc’ and the people, even those who didn’t see my posting, will go back and check what it is that you want them to ignore.

      Who wouldn’t love free publicity. Especially when the one publicising has no clue he is working for you without pay.

  6. The Inspector-General must be fired! How can you expose our great beloved president to teargas just after he came back from the holy land of Israel? You are trying to dirten him after he has been cleansed and we Zambians are busy waiting for him to give us a prophesy he has brought back from Zion on the improvement of our economy which will soon see manna dropping into the BOZ. Down with Babylon! Down with Kakoma Kanjala!

  7. For Sunday ‘s final police must cordon the place around the stadium by 500m instead of watching the game.

  8. The word is the ones responsible were Blood thirsty United Dunderhead members all in a failed effort to stop the game and embarrass the State!

    What a bunch of cretins!

    • DeadNBC would have been the first ones to give us that news, if it was so.

      Not you, akatufi kapalasiti.

  9. What has Lungu to do with the unrully crowd?Those zambians who wanted free match should have glued themselves to theirs or neighbours TVs.Then about the South Africans loosing because of the gassing,those are used to it.How they deal with Xenophobia.Its by tear gas.The Marekana massacre,gas was used first.If Mandela was alive today should have attested to this.He had the largest dose of tear gas.Zambia won and is still winning,gas or no gas.

  10. What do you expect from these ZP clowns when they still use the British Empire Colonial Training Manual of native protest control at Lilayi.

  11. The problem is not the crowd who wanted to enter into the stadium without tickets. The issue here is balefwaya ukwingila ilya pa CB twita ati iya malofwa. The other problem is the area where the stadium is located. Matero mandevu chingwere chazanga chipata compound its the same building a stadium in busakile here in kitwe what do you expect vundu my friends. That stadium was supposed to be in low resindential area like ibex or kabulonga. Look at lev its located in kansenshi area. Am sure you know what i mean by saying this. On sunday please no teargas its not powerful let us use another more powerful tactic i will come with sulpher monoxide senegal watch out. Ngamwatukosesha ubwikalo we will punish you more than we punished SA. Nkesa na center from CB.

  12. The PF and PF police are so pathetic that they will never accept blame and take responsiblity for somethign that is not right. These thugs can even defend a fly sitting on lungu’s faeces been promoted to minister. These are the types of retarded baboons we are dealing with. very embarrasing situation and the whole world was watching. And these rats think AFCOn can be held under PF? My foot!!!!

  13. UPNDonkeys never cease to amaze but you are donkeys anyway. Did you want a deadly stampede to break out and a few dead bodies so that your hh can celebrate the misfortune like at the OYDC? We know that he takes pleasure when Zambians die. And that is the reason why Zambians do not trust or love the donkey…..pity really!

    • You id iots tear gassed my illegitimacy with by barbie doll Estelle, shikala fyenu. Who told you that you have to abuse me like that while the world was watching.

  14. “Police spokesperson Esther Katongo said officers were forced to discharge teargas outside Heroes Stadium to disperse unruly fans who
    attempted to force their way into the stadium.”
    ARE THE STADIA GATES/ENTRANCES THAT FRAGILE THAT IF THEY ARE CLOSED (NOT LOCKED) SOMEONE CAN FORCE THEIR WAY INTO THE STADIUM? THEN THE DESIGN WAS VERY POOR INDEED. FOOTBALL FANS HOLIGAN IS EVEN WORSE IN ENGLAND AND HORSES AND TEARGAS ARE ALWAYS USED. BUT, I HAVE NEVER HEARD THAT THE HOOLIGANS FORCED THEIR WAY INTO THE STADIUM. SOMETHING TO SERIOUSLY CONSIDER WHEN DESIGNING FUTURE STADIA.

  15. Police should not have used tear gas at all. The indiscipline by Police has got nothing to do with the location of the stadium. All this is happening because we don’t have a professional POlice, what we have are PF caders given POlice uniforms

  16. I’ve never seen ZP use water to disperse crowds. This situation didn’t need teargas but the water canons. ZP always think the problem is always a nail hence there solution is the hammer.

  17. Wisdom begins when you accept that you were wrong and take responsibility. In Zambian institutions this does not happen.

  18. The Zelu Palibe are trying to finish up stocks of tear gas left by our colonial Masters. Until then, we shall have to live with tears by ECL Zelu Palibe chaps. Eh don’t talk of my HH he is no where near this senseless discussion.

  19. That an international tournament was hosted and allowed to proceed without a viable security protocol in place is bewildering and gives reason for pause. How much strategic planning, if any, goes into the process by security teams, in this case Zambia Police? It is an internatuonally recognised practice that docile crowds should not linger too close to facilities. In other words parameters are set as to how far roaming crowds can stay thus making crowd contrcl manageable for police. Crowd control is not only when unruliness erupts. Its management. Further Spokeswoman blaming the wind is a bunch of crap. Security and mangement must always include weather, parking, pedestrian traffick, vendors and such! Wake up ZP. Dont wait for stampedes to do your job!

  20. One thing us Zambians are poor especially at national level is proper planning of our cities and town. Most cases, cities develop from chaos hopping to end at London or Johanesburg. When the new stadium was constructed, a lot of factors where not taken into consideration or provided for. E.g, the stadium itself is located in an area surrounded by what I may call compounds if not shanty compounds. In these compunds, many youths unemployment wallow in abject poverty with no hope for the future. When they know that a high profile game is on (especially where politicians are in attendance) it is an opportunity to cause some organized chaos. With no enough buffer zone for adequate cloud control, the Police are left with no option but to use minimum force and I think that’s what happened…

    • Kikiki, yaba! Wantekunya iwe ati most African cities spring or sprung out of chaos ka? Chachine boyi.

      When the hoodlums see politicians, it’s time for them to cash in or get favors from them for the abuse they suffered during campaigns, they wanted to watch the game free of charge.

    • Just ask any veteran how most of these Townships sprung up, it was out of chaos not planning by the councils, john Howard, john laing, marapodi, mississi, you will hear such stories, no it was a farm, after he left workers shared up the land and invited all their bululus their villages, no it was a brick manufacturing factory after they left, bla, bla, no she died then cadres….

      Then you decide to put an architectural marvel amongst chaos, those are ripple effects of no proper planning.

  21. The impunity & unruly behaviour by Stone Age P.F cadres is now the accepted norm in Zambia today, sanctioned by Chakolwa, Leather face Mwila, & (Chimp)yongo to name a few of the brutal thugs running Zambia today.
    SHAME!!

  22. It is Lungu who failed to pay for the stupid PF cadres. They always want to tailgate him and have free entry. Kamanga fixed them. Infact they should be shot dead for endangering the president and Issa Hayatou.

  23. Minister of home affairs Honourable Steven kampiongo please try to seat down with those police officers and discipline them.I wasn’t happy,His Excellency President Edgar Lungu was there with others VIPS.we don’t throw tear gas were there is VIP.

  24. I think this is the shallowest reasoning and the most stupid justification the world will ever see. do you realize that the tear gas was thrown to disperse a crowd less than a thousand people within a radius possibly holding 60,000 souls in an enclosed area? There was so much panic in the stadium. A stampede could have easily erupted. There are other means of dispersing crowds, you just dont throw tear gas any how! im sure you could see fire trucks around the stadium. Unless you tell me those apparatus’ had no water. please madam do not expose your foolishness in public like that. That is primitive thinking. In fact ancient thinking of the worst kind.Stone age thinking. *****!

  25. ZPS is a disgrace and Never learns anything new in Crowd Control Management. I remember attending a live match at the same Stadium around 1976 or there about. That match was between KK Eleven Vs Sheffield United Football Club or Congo DRC. The match was full house and mid way the match people were still coming in and they started pushing against the Pitch Perimeter Fence and in response the Police started throwing Teargas at the Crowd. I have never such chaos and mayhem in my entire life. People were running away from the Teargas and shouting and crying all over ,some had broken limps, others died on the spot. The dead and the injured were ferried to UTH. I was so shocked with what I saw and since that time I have never watched a live match. I am so scared the same thing might happen…

  26. Crazy statemnet from the police.Why did they leave the gates open after 90minutes?The police would have caused havoc and stamped.The president was also at risk.

  27. That is why it is necessary to appoint professionals to such jobs as IG not cadres, methods of crowd control should change with time, why should you stick to just one colonial method that could deprive the country an opportunity to host further continental games? In an event like that a water cannon could have been used not tear gases. Primitivity, visionless leadership and incompetence will surely kill this nation.

  28. ZP are an example of what’s wrong in our country,…that could ve been prevented, its called planing, that crowd was anticipated,….Stupidity at its worst, and according to an english dictionary, stupidity is knowing facts and refusing to apply facts…,

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