“NEGLIGENCE”
Police described the pitch invasion as a riot and said two officers were killed, but survivors accused them of overreacting.
Officers responded with violence, kicking and hitting fans with batons, according to witnesses and footage, and pushing spectators back into the stands, where many would die after tear gas was fired.
Several witnesses said the police stood by and refused to help the victims.
Instead, passers-by rushed to help.
Kiosk owner Edy Tanto said he saw people pouring out of the stadium as chaos broke out.
He rushed to deliver water from his shop to victims whose eyes had been gouged with tear gas, which witnesses said police fired at the stands.
“I couldn’t think straight,” Tanto told AFP as he sat cross-legged on the floor of his store.
“I was just thinking of helping them.”
Indonesian President Joko Widodo announced an investigation after the tragedy and called for a security check of all stadiums.
The Malang police chief was replaced on Monday, nine officers were suspended and 19 others under investigation, police said.
But the organizers of the game and club officials were also blamed for the chaos.
The Indonesian Football Federation also imposed sanctions on Arema FC on Tuesday, fined the club 250 million rupiah (US$16,420) in addition to banning two of its officials for life.
Maike Ira Puspita, the federation’s deputy general secretary, told AFP she had imposed sanctions on the club and its officials “due to the… negligence of the whole situation”.
The federation has declined to comment on the police response to a pitch invasion, which has come under increasing fire since the tragedy.
The Indonesian government has suspended the country’s national football league pending the completion of the investigation.