AT least 12 people were killed when police caused a stampede by firing tear-gas near the end of a football match between Zimbabwe and South Africa on July 09, 2000.

The World Cup qualifier in Harare’s national stadium, hyped by the local press as the “game of the century”, was abandoned in the 82nd minute, when South Africa went into a 2-0 lead.

Zimbabwean fans started throwing bottles and stones. Eyewitnesses said police responded by firing tear-gas across the entire stadium, which had a capacity crowd of at least 50,000. This caused many spectators to flee for the exits.