Argentina abandon World Cup bus parade as millions line streets

A victory parade for the World Cup-winning Argentina men’s football team had to be cut short after millions of people gathered to celebrate in central Buenos Aires.

The Argentina squad, who won the World Cup on Sunday for the first time since 1986 after beating France in a penalty shoot-out, began a “planned eight-hour journey” to celebrate with the public, said the BBC. The bus parade began at the Argentine Football Association (AFA) training complex around 20 miles outside of the capital and was meant to end at the Obelisk monument in Plaza de la República in the city centre.

There was a “sea of colour” awaiting the players, with “the majority of the jubilant fans” decked out in the national light blue and white colours. Local sources estimated that four million people had gathered on the streets of Buenos Aires.

The open-top bus had been “moving slowly for more than four hours” before authorities took the decision to cancel the parade over safety fears, said Sky News. The players then returned to the AFA complex before taking a helicopter ride along the route to see the crowds.

Social media videos showed fans attempting to jump on the bus from bridges as it passed through. South American football journalist Tim Vickery, who was in Buenos Aires, told Sky News that he thought “it could go disastrously wrong” before the parade was cancelled.

Following the decision, some fans clashed with riot police who “were sent in to disperse the crowds”, said Metro. Local medical services confirmed a number of non-fatal injuries, while one person died after falling through a roof. A five-year-old boy suffered a serious head injury and remains in a coma after a “piece of marble fell from a monument in Plaza San Martin”, the paper reported.