DOHA, Qatar (AP) — On Sunday on the opening day of the World Cup as tens of thousands of fans pushed and shoved against police lines to enter the venue.
Fans were trying to enter the enclosed area that contains a big-screen television for viewing matches, places to buy beer, and little else.
Riot police armed with batons and shields stood guard at the entrance. Some fans pleaded with officers to let them through the line.
“It’s very risky. People they could die,” said Hatem El-Berarri, an Iraqi who said he was working in neighbouring Dubai. “Old people, women, they cannot handle crowds like this. Thank God I’m a little bit tall, so I can breathe. But I saw some kids and said ‘get them up. They cannot breathe.’
Luis Reyes, a Mexican American living in Los Angeles, likened the crush to scenes a few weeks ago in South Korea that killed more than 150.
“You can’t go back and you can’t go forward,” he said. "I told my son, ’Let’s go outside. It’s too dangerous.”
There was a similar situation Saturday night at a pre-World Cup concert as people tried to push their way inside the same fan zone.
I've a bad feeling I think the World Cup should of been held in a different country I hope no-one gets hurt.
