Buenos Aires, Jul 15 (IANS): Violent outbursts following Argentina's 1-0 loss to Germany in Sunday's 2014 Brazil World Cup final were "planned", a top security official said Monday.
In the violent outbursts, 120 people were detained in clashes with police that dragged on for some three hours in the capital Buenos Aires, Xinhua quoted National Security Secretary Sergio Berni as saying.
After the game, football fans gathered at the city's well-known Obelisk monument in support for their team's strong showing to take second place at the World Cup, but as the night wore on, the celebrations turned violent, with masked vandals throwing rocks and destroying public property.
"That was not a chance happening, that was planned," Berni told Argentine media.
"We were able to work very patiently, and we were able to separate them and detain them," Berni said of the vandals, adding "they were very inebriated."
Police used tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannons to disperse the mob, but "intervening under such conditions is very difficult, there were children and babies," said Berni.
Berni said, "when a car passed by, (the vandals) attacked it and robbed the passengers," and described the detained as "delinquents who went looking for chaos".
The general director of the Emergency Medical Aid Service (SAME), Alberto Crescenti, confirmed that 70 people were injured in the melee, "among them, 15 are police officers."