Over 7,000 miles away from the where the action unfolded at Old Trafford stadium in Manchester, tensions spilled over into violence at a mall in the city of Tangerang, Indonesia where local supporters of Manchester United and Liverpool gathered to watch the heated Premier League clash between eternal rivals on a big screen on Saturday evening.
According to the police, a brawl broke out between the two sets of supporters resulting in injuries to six people — three Man Utd and three Liverpool fans.
“The victims were injured after getting hit by bottles that were thrown,” said Tangerang Police Spokesperson Manurung, as quoted by Kompas yesterday.
Azhri, a Liverpool fan who was at the location, said the brawl suddenly broke out without warning.
“It got rowdy because of some chants. When it got rowdy, I was at the front and I grabbed my wife and ran away from the location,” he said.
The police have not made any arrests but are questioning the event’s organizers as the authorities were not notified beforehand about the soccer match viewing, which drew in hundreds of spectators.
Liverpool and Manchester United both have massive fan bases in soccer-obsessed Indonesia, with a study in 2014 estimating that the former is particularly beloved in the country with its 66.1 million followers (out of a population of 260 million). Public gatherings to watch soccer matches on the big screen — particularly European soccer — are extremely popular in the archipelago, leading to some violent clashes in the past.
In case anyone’s wondering, Manchester United bested Liverpool 2-1 on the night, though there was no indication that the brawl in Tangerang erupted over the final result.
