Human rights organizations have announced that 135 people have died in Guinea’s soccer riots

About 135 people were killed in clashes at a soccer stadium in southeastern Guinea on Sunday, a local human rights group said, with the death toll estimated at twice the official death toll of 56.

The controversial referee’s decision during the match in Nzerekore town sparked crowd violence and tear gas volleys from police, causing a deadly stampede as spectators tried to flee.

A collective of human rights groups in the Nzerekore region said on Tuesday that its highest estimate was based on information from the hospital, cemeteries, witnesses at the stadium, victims’ families, mosques, churches and the local press.

The dead were ‘mostly children’: rights groups

“We now estimate that 135 people died in the stadium, mostly children under the age of 18,” the statement said, adding that more than 50 people were still missing.

The group blamed security forces for excessive use of tear gas and prioritizing the protection of officials over spectators.

It also said vehicles carrying officials and others fleeing the stadium rammed into spectators as they tried to flee the packed venue, the gates of which were blocked by security forces.

It said the tournament’s organizers were responsible, as well as Guinea’s ruling junta, because they provided technical and financial support to the event honoring military leader Mamadia Doumbouya.

The government, which promised to launch an investigation on Monday, has not responded to the group’s statement.