Images have begun to surface from Argentina’s victory parade on Tuesday in Buenos Aires, the festive scene of the players celebrating with their fans quickly turned ugly as the day went along. The route the players were supposed to take was altered a number of times before the event took place, unlike when an American team wins a championship the victory parade across Buenos Aires had no safety guards and very little control.
More than 5 million people had overtaken the streets along the way the team bus was traveling, as fans celebrated and began to heavily drink things quickly got out of control. As the day went along videos of fans falling from unsafe positions had surfaced, with one fan even falling from a monument, no word has been issued if the man survived.
When two fans tried to jump on the team bus from a bridge, resulting in one of the men falling to the pavement below, the victory parade was called off and the players were airlifted to safety. At the moment a reported 13 arrests have been made and 31 people have been injured.
Buenos Aires a mess after victory parade
According to Clarin, the 9 de Julio Avenue where the Obelisco is located was left in shambles with the iconic Obelisco painted with graffiti and its doors kicked in as fans went to the top of the high structure to celebrate. Also, nearby stores and restaurants had damages done to supporting structures as fans stood on top of them. Streetlights all over Buenos Aires were damaged as many observers tried to climb them and subsequently broke them.
“Most of the injured were taken to different hospitals in the city, such as Fernández, Ramos Mejía, Rivadavia, Durand and Argerich, all of them with multiple traumas, but none of them serious,” Alberto Crescenti, head of the SAME emergency services, told the Noticias Argentinas news agency.
It was reported by the Buenos Aires Times that over 800 phone calls were made to emergency phone numbers over incidents of missing persons to medical assistance.