Stampedes at a football match killed 56 people in Guinea’s second-largest city of N’Zerekore, the junta-controlled government said Monday. “Protests of dissatisfaction with refereeing decisions led to stone-throwing by supporters, resulting in fatal stampedes” at Sunday’s match, the government statement said, which was published as a news ticker on national television. “Hospital services have put the provisional death toll at 56” it added.⚠️ ¡IMÁGENES SENSIBLES!Tragedia en N’Zérékoré (Guinea) donde, por ahora, hay 56 fallecidos confirmados. Muchos de ellos son niños que murieron asfixiados por los gases lacrimógenos y en la estampidaLos oficiales tienen temor a la gran cifra de fallecidos que puede ascender pic.twitter.com/s4s5VJD4Xr— ÁFRICA FUTBOLERA (@AfricaFutbolera) December 2, 2024 Prime Minister Amadou Oury Bah condemned the “incidents that marred the match between the teams of Labe and N’Zerekore”, in a post on Facebook. “The government is following the situation and reiterates its call for calm so as not to impede hospital services from aiding the injured” he added.##EDITORS_CHOICE##In southeastern Guinea, medical sources told AFP. “There are about a hundred dead. Bodies are lined up as far as the eye can see in the hospital. Others are lying on the ground in the corridors. The morgue is full” a doctor at the regional hospital told AFP on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak. In videos posted on social media, the authenticity of which AFP could not verify, many bodies can be seen lying inert. Other videos circulating on social media show scenes of great confusion in the streets following the outbreak of the clashes. Local media said the match in the southeastern city was part of a tournament organized in honor of Guinea’s junta leader, Mamady Doumbouya, who seized power in a 2021 coup and has installed himself as president. Such tournaments have become common in the West African nation as Doumbouya eyes a potential run in presidential elections expected next year and political alliances form.© Agence France-Presse##NAJAVA_MECA_8538231##
