Chaos as India-England tickets go on sale

An Indian policeman uses a bamboo stick in an attempt to control cricket fans jostling to maintain their position after a minor stampede in a queue for tickets at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore on Thursday. (AFP)

Published Thursday, February 24, 2011

By AFP

Indian police baton-charged thousands of World Cup cricket fans queuing for tickets for India’s weekend clash with England on Thursday amid scenes of chaos outside Bangalore stadium.

Several people were injured and taken away on stretchers as police attempted to keep order as an estimated 5,000 people pushed and shoved in an unruly line that stretched around the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, an AFP reporter witnessed.

Sunday’s game was switched at the last-minute to Bangalore because of problems at the Eden Gardens stadium in Kolkata where the match, one of the highlights of the early stages of the World Cup, had been due to be played.

A total of 7,000 tickets were on sale at the stadium on Thursday and sold out in several hours, a secretary at the state cricket association, Javagal Srinath, told AFP.

People had begun queuing on Wednesday night and the crowd grew bigger on Thursday morning, leading to a huge crush when the half dozen counters opened on Thursday morning.

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