現在地 HOME > 掲示板
> 戦争58 > 330.html
★阿修羅♪
|
現在地 HOME > 掲示板
> 戦争58 > 330.html
★阿修羅♪
|
|
| Tweet |
Chinese fans go on rampage
Riots after defeat by Japan in Asia Cup sparks fears for Beijing Games
Jonathan Watts in Beijing
Sunday August 8, 2004
The Observer
Hundreds of Chinese football supporters clashed with riot police outside a Beijing stadium yesterday after their national team was beaten 3-1 by rival Japan in the final of the Asia Cup.
Supporters threw bottles, shouted obscenities, burnt Japanese flags and surrounded the Japanese team bus, which was pelted with missiles and forced to return to the stadium.
During the match, fans booed Japan so loudly they drowned out the Japanese national anthem played at the start of the match. The outbreak of football hooliganism, previously dismissed as a European disease, is a major embarrassment for the Chinese government and raises serious doubts about Beijing's ability to host the 2008 Olympics.
Both governments had pleaded with fans to stay calm ahead of the match and 6,000 riot police, troops and security staff had been deployed to prevent violence.
The Japanese team had been singled out for particular hatred, and the host nation's fury bordered on intimidation normally associated with England fans.
During the quarter final in Chongqing, its team bus was held up by an angry mob of Chinese fans calling for Japanese blood. Japanese supporters have been roughed up and pelted with rubbish. Japan's manager Zico - the former midfield maestro of the Brazilian national team - complained that his players were 'paying for political issues from many years ago'.
By English football supporters' standards, the attacks have been fairly restrained. Nevertheless, the violence has caused a storm in Japan, where it is seen as a sign of the growing threat posed by China. Politicians have expressed outrage, and an editorial in the top-selling Yomiuri newspaper blamed the Chinese government for stirring up nationalism.
The Japanese embassy in Beijing has demanded that China provide greater security for its players and supporters. Even the Prime Minister, Junichiro Koizumi, has stepped into the fray, calling for the hosts not to boo his nation's players.
The battles also reflect major differences in cultures between the two societies. In wealthy Japan, the sport is fashionable among young middle-class men and women. Its national team supporters are famous for being so well mannered they take rubbish bags to clean up their mess.
By contrast, Chinese fans are far rowdier. With corruption among poorly paid players and referees rampant, heckling is part and parcel of the match-day experience. Supporters are more likely to turn up because they want to let off steam rather than to keep up with the latest trends.
However, the fans' barracking has clearly touched a nerve in Japan, which is also experiencing a rise in nationalist sentiment. At earlier matches in the tournament, Chinese protesters inside the stadium had held up banners calling on Tokyo to make amends for wartime atrocities. 'Look at history and apologise to the people of Asia,' read one. One group of fans clustered round a ringleader who shouted: 'Kill the Japanese'.
Another banner read, 'Return the Diaoyutai Islands' - a reference to a sovereignty dispute over a chain of islands - known as Senkakushima in Japan - which are believed to hold oil deposits.
The Chinese still resent Japan's invasion and occupation of parts of their country from 1931 to 1945, when tens of millions died. Heavily restricted from criticising their own government, the Chinese media have had far more freedom to report on Japanese wrongs - real and imagined - which have only added to the hostility directed at the Japanese.
Such displays of hostility have coincided with a chilling of diplomatic relations. Beijing is unhappy that Japan has cut its aid budget to China - which is seen as a de facto compensation for the war.
The hostility has also helped to draw big crowds to Japan's matches, even though only a tenth of the expected number of their supporters braved the trip to China. While many other nations have played in half-empty stadiums, Japan's opponents have enjoyed the support of sell-out crowds.
After China won their semi-final with a penalty shoot-out, the nation buzzed with anticipation of a final in which a lot more than football was at stake. One Shanghai television station declared: 'It is going to be a war.'
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1278628,00.html
題名には必ず「阿修羅さんへ」と記述してください。