Unholy scenes as churchgoers clash with Peruvian football fans outside stadium over land dispute

Police used tear gas to break up the confrontation which saw two fans detained and one church member injured
1/23
Standard Sport11 September 2018

Fans of one of Peruvian football’s most historic teams, Alianza Lima, clashed with members of an evangelical church on Monday in a dispute over who owns a plaza in front of the main entry to a stadium.

Hundreds of members of The Upper Room church - wearing yellow construction helmets - arrived in buses early in the day and began painting walls to cover images of some of the team’s most iconic players.

Alianza Lima fans soon arrived and the two sides clashed. Police used tear gas to break up the confrontation.

Police chief Gaston Rodriguez said two of the fans were detained and one of the church members was injured.

The club said in a news release that it has owned the plaza for 40 years. But church attorney Sandro Balbin said the church has been the registered owner of the property since 2016.

The area is now used for concerts, parking and a gathering place for fans. The Upper Room, which has thousands of members across the country, wants to hold worship services there.

Additional reporting by the Associated Press

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

MORE ABOUT