GOAT’s visit to the City of Joy lapsed into a colossal mess after angry spectators ransacked the Yuva Bharati Stadium in Kolkata, setting parts of it on fire. Several people were injured in the melee as billboards were pulled down, seats and bottles were hurled inside the fence, requiring the police to resort to random lathi charge.
Fans of Lionel Messi were upset at not being able to catch a glimpse of the world soccer star as scores of politicians, celebrities and organisers surrounded the football icon throughout his 18-minute stay inside the stadium. The main organiser of Saturday’s GOAT Tour event Shatadru Dutta was arrested, and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee offered an impromptu apology to the fans and the footballer.
The soccer star who had to fly off to Hyderabad for a second league programme was escorted out to safety, the police said, adding the crowd became restless after Messi’s brief appearance at the venue and their failure to see him live, allegedly because “he was surrounded by a host of personalities.” Another person said, seething in anger: “There was everything but not the man to see whom we purchased the tickets … because he had been hijacked by the lobbyists … He didn’t take a single kick or a single penalty. They said they would bring Shah Rukh Khan too… But not even that.”
The chaos and lack of organisation were such that even the Chief Minister could not reach the venue on time and failed to attend the photo session with the soccer star, sources said. Fans who came from as far as Odisha and other neighbouring States asked in desperation, “Was the programme organised to fleece us only … why did we pay as high as Rs16,000 and come here for such far places … only to see some riff raff netas and then get beaten up by the police.”
Others who resorted to sloganeering from the stands, shouting “Chor … Chor” or “we want justice” called the programme a big scam worth several hundred crores and asked the Government to investigate it.
