Rioting football fans: Five charged, hunt still on for others

Police will continue to hunt and arrest the football fans involved in the riot at the Stadium Negeri last Saturday.

Kuching police chief, ACP Roslan Bek Ahmad said the focus was on those who acted aggressively, smashing and burning down police vehicles, during the incident which erupted after the Malaysia Cup match between Perak dan Sarawak.

At a press conference here today, Roslan said police had identified the suspects from their photographs.

So far, police have nabbed five youths aged 17 to 20 years and they were charged in court today.

All the five accused pleaded not guilty and were released on RM10,000 bail each with their parents as sureties.

Magistrate Portia Tham Ong Leng set this Nov 18 and 19 for hearing of the case.

Chaos broke out at the Stadium Negeri after the match when fans invaded the pitch with some angry ones throwing firecrackers while some others took to vandalising the advertisement boards.

It is believed that the fans were directing their anger at Perak following an incident in Ipoh when Sarawak played Perak, where Sarawak fans were attacked and abused by the home supporters.

After the pitch invasion, fans gathered outside the stadium's main gate to block the Perak team bus from leaving.

The Police Federal Reserve Unit used tear gas to disperse the crowd. Seven police cars were damaged including two which were overturned, with one set alight, while five policemen suffered minor injuries in the incident.

The Perak Football Association (PAFA), however, had refuted claims that Perak supporters were involved in the fracas. Perak team manager Datuk Azhar Ahmad had said the accusation was baseless since the Sarawak Football Association had announced that no tickets were sold to Perak fans after concerns that there could be bad blood.

At the same time, Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin had called for the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) to study cases of clash-prone matches so that security control can be tightened to ensure last Saturday's fracas would not recur.