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Dozens of people were killed Sunday in clashes between fans at a football match in N’Zerekore, Guinea’s second largest city, hospital sources told AFP, describing scenes of massive violence.
One doctor said “there are around 100 dead,” with bodies filling the local hospital and morgue.
“There are bodies lined up as far as the eye can see in the hospital. Others are lying on the floor in the hallways. The morgue is full,” the doctor told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.
Another doctor said there were “dozens of dead.”
Videos circulating on social media, which AFP was unable to immediately verify, showed scenes of chaos in the street outside the match and numerous bodies lying on the ground.
“It all started with a contested decision by the referee. Then fans invaded the pitch,” a witness told AFP, asking his name not be used for safety reasons.
Local media said the match was part of a tournament organized in honor of Guinea’s junta leader, Mamadi Doumbouya, who seized power after a September 2021 coup and has installed himself as president.
Such tournaments have grown common in the West African nation in recent weeks, as Doumbouya eyes a potential run in presidential elections and political alliances form.
N’Zerekore, in Guinea’s southeast, about 570 kilometers (350 miles) from the capital, Conakry, has a population of about 200,000 people.