Friday, July 12, 2013

Sickle

The sickle (EXAMPLE ABOVE) is a hand-held agricultural tool with a curved blade used as long ago as 18,000 B.C. to harvest grain or to cut hay to feed livestock. It was used for an entirely different purpose on Sunday, June 30th, 2013, at a soccer match in Brazil. Fans gathered at the local stadium in Centro do Meio, Maranhao, to watch an amateur match. Instead, what they saw – and what some participated in – was a horrific unfolding of events. A 20-year-old referee met with some resistance when he tried to expel a 31-year-old player from the game. After the player threw him to the ground, the referee pulled a knife, stabbed him in the chest, and killed him. Players and spectators, some of them said to be friends and family members of the victim, rushed the field in revenge. One of them tied up the arms and legs of the referee while another hit him over the head and broke a bottle on his face. Another man, still at large, picked up the bloody knife the referee had just used to kill the player and stabbed him in the neck with it. Then the brother of the man with the bottle, who is also still being sought by police, used a sickle to cut off the referee's arms, legs, and head. After quartering and decapitating him, the frenzied mob placed his head on a pike in the middle of the playing field. Photos of the mayhem and a video of its aftermath can be seen here (CAUTION). Security expert and retired police officer Paulo Storani said, "While it's true we are used to soccer violence in Brazil, this is completely off the charts of what we usually see."

 

No comments:

Post a Comment

You may add your comments here.

Labels