The biggest annihilation in the rich, illustrious and trophy-laden history of Brazilian football was received rather coolly by the people of Belo Horizonte who were were left shell-shocked as they witnessed the most unthinkable and unreal events unfolding on their own soil. None could have scripted such a story even in their wildest of dreams where Brazil fans would be leaving the Mineirao Stadium after half-time with Germany leading 5-0 ! A scoreline defying belief, with the fans in yellow vividly struggling to hold back their tears, anger and despair while trudging off the stadium.
All the fans left the venue maintaining discipline under the the purview of beefed up security measures. The devastating effect caused such numbness that apart from the usual deserted streets of night, I noticed nothing abnormal while returning to the hotel after the match as my bus ran right through the city.
The bus stations depicted a busy picture though, with a never ending flow of passengers flocking the bus stations to travel to different destinations. The Brazilian bus services usually maintain time but due to the overcrowded situation, buses continued to miss their departure time. However, the only reported incident of trouble occurred at Savassi, a place famous for night clubs where German and Brazilian fans fought with each other.
It was a different story in Sao Paulo, the biggest city of Brazil. After the shocking loss, disgruntled fans burned a Brazilian flag in Sao Paulo’s Vila Madalena neighborhood while torching of buses began in various suburbs of Sao Paulo. At least five separate incidents of arson were reported to have occurred between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. local time. Nineteen buses were damaged in total as reports of buses being torched in the city of Curitiba also did not fall short of becoming headline.
In the Paulista Avenue, the financial hub, around 50 riot police also known as “shock troops” waited in armored vehicle to avert any untoward incident. Fifteen more troops patrolled on horseback. Some angry fans made a shape of 7-1 with beer cans which was later dismantled by the police personnel.
In Rio de Janeiro, officers descended on Copacabana beach amid reports of gunfire. Pickpocketing happened too at FIFA FanFest at the famous beach, purse and jewelry were snatched from visitors thronging the beach which triggered a small stampede also.
Overall, the mood was grief-stricken but the level of real vandalism thankfully could not eclipse the unreal German invasion of Brazil.