More than 1,500 people are "thought to have been injured -- three of them seriously" -- after Serie A side Juventus fans watching the Champions League final "stampeded in a Turin square after mistaking firecrackers for an explosion or gunshots," according to Sam Jones of the London GUARDIAN. Thousands of people had gathered in Piazza San Carlo on Saturday to watch Juventus play Real Madrid on "giant TV screens." During the second half of the match, "loud bangs led to a sudden rush in the middle of the crowd, causing a surge that flung people against barriers." Many were trampled as people began to run out of the center of the square, "screaming in fear." The stampede may have been "started by the explosion of a loud firecracker that was mistaken for a bomb," some witnesses said. Italian daily La Stampa reported one crowd member said, "I heard an explosion, which must have been a huge firecracker." Another witness said, "They shouted, 'There's a bomb, evacuate the square.' So we ran away." Although initially police said that "200 people needed hospital treatment," Italian news agency Ansa "later put the figure at 1,527, using hospital tallies." Most of the injured were "treated for cuts and light contusions," but three people, including a seven-year-old boy, were reportedly in "serious condition" (GUARDIAN, 6/3). REUTERS' Pili & Scherer reported police "set up an information point to help people find their loved ones, including many children who had been separated from their parents." Turin Mayor Chiara Appendino, who had returned from watching the match in Cardiff, held a meeting with police on Sunday. She was then "due to visit the local hospital where the seven-year-old boy was being treated" (REUTERS, 6/4). The BBC reported there was "anger locally that the authorities did not do more to put in place proper crowd control measures." For "some Juventus fans," the incident "brought back traumatic memories" of the '85 Heysel Stadium disaster, when "39 people, most of them Italian fans, died after being crushed against a wall that then collapsed before the European Cup final against Liverpool" (BBC, 6/4).
CARDIFF FINAL: The BBC reported up to 170,000 people were in Cardiff to see Real Madrid beat Juventus 4-1. South Wales Police arrested three people "over ticket touting." The force said that its presence on the last day of the Champions League festival, which ran until 5pm on Sunday, would stay "significant" following the London terror attack. Organizers said that "more than 60,000 fans went to the festival on Thursday and Friday with another capacity crowd flooding in on Saturday" (BBC, 6/4). The BBC also reported 15,000 people "descended on Cardiff Bay to watch football legends play on a floating pitch" ahead of the final. Former Real Madrid and Barcelona midfielder Luís Figo, ex-Juventus player David Trezeguet and Brazil int'l Cafu were "among those in the squads" (BBC, 6/2).
