Qatar riot police push back massive crowds at World Cup fan zone

The fan zone set up in central Doha turned into a chaotic scene on Sunday on the opening day of the World Cup as tens of thousands of fans pushed and shoved against police lines to enter the venue.

Fans were trying to enter the enclosed area that contains a big-screen television for viewing matches, places to buy beerand little else.

Riot police armed with batons and shields stood guard at the entrance. Some fans pleaded with officers to let them through the line.

Only a trickle of pregnant women and people with disabilities were allowed to enter the fan zone through a special priority entrance shortly after the opening match between Qatar and Ecuador kicked off in another Qatari city, Al Khor.

"It's very risky. People they could die," said Hatem El-Berarri, an Iraqi who said he was working in neighbouring Dubai.

"Old people, women, they cannot handle crowds like this. Thank God I'm a little bit tall, so I can breathe. But I saw some kids and said, 'Get them up. They cannot breathe."'

He said he saw people pushing and shovingand women crying.

"My family is inside. I cannot enter to see them anymore. I don't know what to do," he said.

Luis Reyes, a Mexican-American living in Los Angeles, likened the crush to scenes a few weeks ago in South Korea that killed more than 150.

"You can't go back and you can't go forward," he said. "I told my son, 'Let's go outside. It's too dangerous."

It wasn't clear if anyone was injured or arrested.

Second day of fan zone issues

There was a similar situation Saturday night at a pre-World Cup concert as people tried to push their way inside the same fan zone, with police turning away thousands.

Disappointed fans took it largely in stride. Outside the venue, Qatari police, security guards and others guided people away with giant foam fingers, bullhorns and blinking traffic control wands.

But the overflowing concert comes before the rest of the 1.2 million fans expected at the soccer tournament arrive in this tiny nation on the Arabian Peninsula.

And with Qatar deciding only Friday to ban beer sales from tournament stadiums, fan zones like the onehosting the concert will be the only FIFA-associated areas serving pints meaning more fans could wind up there.

Inside the festival area on Sunday there were no signs of trouble as tens of thousands of people watched the opening match. People were dancing, singing and drinking at a concert following the match between Qatar and Ecuador, which was played in the city of Al Khor.

Mahdi Hussain, a 17-year-old who did not manage to enter, said he was not happy that beer was being served.

"That bothers me," he said. "I don't want to be in an atmosphere where there is alcohol."