Extreme violence at Brazil soccer game: Referee stabs player, spectators decapitate referee

In a most ghastly scene out of Brazil, less than a year before the World Cup, violence broke out at a soccer (futbol) game in  the Brazilian town of Pius XII.

Image/CIA

According to a statement from The Public Safety Department of the state of Maranhao, it all started when referee Otavio da Silva expelled player Josenir Abreu from a game last weekend.

This resulted in a fight between the two men. At some point during the fight, the referee, Silva,20, pulled out a knife and stabbed the player, Abreu, believed to be in his early thirties. Fox news reports that Abreu died of his injuries en route to a local hospital.

The Washington Post reports that things got really ugly at this point–Friends and relatives of Abreu, the statement said, “rushed into the field, stoned the referee to death and quartered his body.” Local media reported (via Fox Soccer) that he also had been decapitated, with his head was placed on a stake in the middle of the field.

Brazilian authorities have reportedly arrested one man, Luis Moraes Souza, and are seeking two others in the June 30 incident in the state of Maranhao, Brazil.

The website, Buzzfeed, has published photos of the dismembered referee and a link to a Liveleak video of the violence. WARNING: Although the media is blurry, it is still VERY GRAPHIC.