Indonesia Probes Elite Officers as Stadium Disaster Death Toll Rises

Indonesia's football association also moved Tuesday to sanction Arema FC, banning its organizing committee chairman and a security officer from football for life and fining the club 250 million rupiahs ($16,000) over the tragedy.

Our friends died here

Arema FC fans set up an outdoor stall in Malang Monday to receive legal complaints.

They said they would file a lawsuit against officers for causing what they said were scores of deaths by indiscriminately targeting spectators in confined terraces.

The Indonesian government suspended the country's national football league and announced a task force to investigate the tragedy.

It said the probe would take two to three weeks.

Calls for an independent investigation have grown since details of the stampede started to emerge over the weekend.

"There is no instruction to fire tear gas and there is no instruction to lock the door," Albertus Wahyurudhanto, a commissioner of the National Commission of Human Rights (Komnas HAM), told a press conference Tuesday.

Fan anger was displayed outside the stadium where a police truck was torched and the walls were daubed with graffiti that read "Tear gas vs mother's tears" and "Our friends died here".

A lot of dangers

More vigils were planned in Malang on Tuesday after fans and Arema FC players gathered outside the stadium a day before to lay flowers at the scene and pray for the victims.

Among the dead were 32 children, an official at the women's empowerment and child protection ministry told AFP, adding that the youngest was aged three or four.

Also read: At Least 129 People Dead after Riot at Indonesia Football Match

Fifa's safety guidelines prohibit the use of crowd control gas by police or stewards at pitchside.

Gianni Infantino, president of football's global governing body, called the tragedy a "dark day" for football, while Brazilian superstar Pele expressed his condolences and said "violence and sports do not mix".