“Thank you to everyone who prayed for my sister but she went to heaven”, wrote on Instagram the brother of the 23-year-old victim, hospitalized in serious condition on Saturday evening, cut in the neck by the jet of a bottle glass. According to Sao Paulo police, Gabriela Anelli, a Palmeiras supporter, found herself in the middle of clashes near the stadium where the match between the Sao Paulo club and Flamengo, a Rio de Janeiro club, took place for the account of the Brazilian championship. The match ended with a parity score (1-1).
Police officers who were there tried to intervene to put an end to the clashes, but they were attacked with glass bottles.
The match had to be interrupted
It was at this moment that Gabriela Anelli was hit by one of these glass bottles. According to César Saad, delegate of the São Paulo police’s sports crime prevention unit, “a shard of a bottle cut his jugular vein”. The Flamengo fan who allegedly threw the bottle was arrested and admitted responsibility, he added.
We deeply regret the death of fan Gabriela Anelli, who was hit by a bottle near Allianz Parque, before the game against Flamengo, on Saturday. We cannot accept that a 23-year-old girl is a victim of barbarism in an environment that should be… pic.twitter.com/7kHJuPYYM4
— SE Palmeiras (@Palmeiras) July 10, 2023
“We cannot accept that a 23-year-old young woman should be the victim of such barbarism in a place supposed to be devoted to entertainment. We show our solidarity with the family and call for a rapid investigation,” the Palmeiras club said in a statement.
Tear gas fumes used by the police to put an end to the fight reached the field and the match had to be interrupted twice following two separate clashes with the police.
