Argentina suspends football matches after vice president assassination attempt

All football matches in Argentina were suspended on Friday following an assassination attempt on the country’s Vice President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.

This was announced by the Argentine Football Association (AFA) on Thursday evening after the attack in Buenos Aires.

Fernandez de Kirchner was just arriving at her home in the Recoleta neighborhood when a man emerged from a crowd and pointed a gun at her head at point-blank range.

The pistol – which was loaded with five bullets – was triggered but did not fire properly. A 35-year-old man was arrested.

Friday, September 2 was declared a national holiday by President Alberto Fernandez and the AFA said all scheduled football activities had been suspended.

“The Argentine Football Federation expresses its strongest condemnation of what happened to Vice President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner,” the AFA said in a statement. “We appeal to society as a whole and warn that violence of any kind is never the solution.”

Three games were scheduled to take place in Argentina’s First Division on Friday: Patronato vs. Union, Rosario Central vs. Talleres and Lanus vs. Tigre.

A number of other matches were also postponed, including those in Argentina’s regionalized third tier, the women’s championship and the reserve league.