Football: Cauvery protests force Bengaluru FC to play AFC Cup match on Wednesday behind closed doors
The decision was taken by the Indian club after consulting the Bengaluru Police during ongoing violence in the city.
Football club Bengaluru FC announced on Tuesday that it would play its AFC Cup quarter-final match against Singapore's Tampines Rovers on Wednesday behind closed doors, in view of ongoing agitations in the city.
"It has been a rather delicate 24 hours for the state of Karnataka and specifically, the city of Bengaluru. In the wake of the recent turn of events and after lengthy consultation with the Bengaluru Police, the Asian Football Confederation and the All India Football Federation, we at Bengaluru FC have had to take an extremely difficult decision of playing Wednesday’s AFC Cup quarterfinal against Tampines Rovers at the Kanteerava Stadium, behind closed doors," said the club in a statement. It also announced that all purchased tickets would be refunded.
Section 144 was imposed in parts of Bengaluru following violent protests on Monday over the Supreme Court order directing Karnataka to release water from the Cauvery river to neighbouring Tamil Nadu.