On March 8, 2025, 12 football fans were arrested at a bus stop in the Ponte dos Carvalhos neighborhood, in Cabo de Santo Agostinho, in Recife, capital of Brazil’s northeastern state of Pernambuco.
IEDs fashioned from fireworks to which metal nails had been added were found in the possession of one of the fans. The fans were en route to Recife for a football match between Sport and Santa Cruz.
The use of fireworks and pyrotechnic devices in football stadiums around the world is not uncommon. Such devices occasionally cause damage, either due to accidental firing during handling or as a result of their use in crowded environments. However, the deliberate addition of fragmentation to fireworks for use during a football match indicates clear intent to cause injuries to fans—an act that is both highly unusual and alarming within the context of sporting events.
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