Organizer arrested after fans rip up seats, throw objects during Lionel Messi visit to India

Lionel Messi's tour of India kicked off chaotically on Saturday as fans threw objects, ripped up seats and invaded the pitch at Kolkata's Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan, also known as Salt Lake Stadium, after the Argentine soccer great made only a brief appearance at a ticketed event.

Satadru Dutta, the event's chief organizer, has been detained by police, said Rajeev Kumar, director general of West Bengal police.

Messi was scheduled for a 45-minute visit to the stadium, but his appearance lasted just 20 minutes. Tickets for the event were priced from about 3,500 rupees ($53.44 Cdn) — more than half of the average weekly income in India — but one fan said he had paid $130 US ($180 Cdn).

Fans in the stadium, located in the capital of the eastern state of West Bengal, threw ripped-up seats and other objects onto the field, while several people climbed a fence around the field and hurled objects.

"I can't believe there was so much mismanagement," said Eddie Lal Hmangaihzuala, who had travelled nearly 1,500 kilometres from Mizoram over two days to attend the event.

"Messi left quickly, I think he felt unsafe. I hardly got a glimpse of him," he told Reuters.

The organizers of the tour did not immediately respond to a request for a comment.

"We've already detained the main organizer," Kumar, of West Bengal police, told reporters. "We're taking action so that this mismanagement does not go unpunished."

He added, "He has already pledged in writing that tickets sold for the event should be refunded."

Messi is in India as part of a tour during which he is scheduled to attend concerts, youth soccer clinics and a padel tournament, and to launch charitable initiatives at events in Kolkata, Hyderabad, Mumbai and New Delhi.

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