Brazilian football mourns Palmeiras fan who died after being hit by bottle
A minute’s silence will be held at games in Brazil’s top flight in tribute to a fan who died after she was hit by a glass bottle outside a stadium.
Palmeiras fan Gabriela Anelli, 23, was queuing outside Allianz Parque in Sao Paulo on Saturday when a bottle was thrown during a brawl between Palmeiras and Flamengo fans.
She suffered a cut to the neck and died in hospital two days later.
“Thanks to everyone who prayed for my sister,” her brother said. “She went to live with God in heaven,” Felipe Anelli added on Instagram.
Ednaldo Rodrigues, president of the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF), said he was working with the federal government and other relevant bodies to stop “criminal and sad episodes like this from happening again”.
A minute’s silence will be observed at all games in the 15th round of the Brazilian championship in honour of Anelli, Rodrigues announced.
“Football is passion and not a space for the action of criminals infiltrating the fans to practise all kinds of violence,” he said.
During the clash, police were also attacked with glass bottles and used pepper spray to try to restore order.
The spray seeped into the stadium and the referee had to stop the match twice in the first half due to the players feeling irritation in their eyes and nose.
Arsenal’s Brazilian striker Gabriel Jesus was among those to pay tribute to Anelli, calling the incident “a sad day for Brazilian football”.
“Gabi was only 23 years old and had a whole life ahead of her, which ended up being taken away by the violence in the stadiums,” Jesus tweeted. “May we reflect and unite for the end of this violence. And may God comfort Gabi’s family…”
Palmeiras “expressed solidarity” with Anelli’s family, saying: “We cannot accept that a 23-year-old girl should be the victim of barbarism in an environment that should be one of entertainment”.
Flamengo tweeted: “On an occasion that should have been a purely sporting dispute, a young woman lost her life in a barbaric and unjustifiable manner that deserves to be punished rigorously.”
A police spokesperson said on Monday that the person responsible for throwing the bottle was arrested and will be charged with intentional homicide.
