Soccer fans in Peru attack church members over parking lot

A brawl broke out Monday between soccer fans and members of a church in Lima, Peru over a parking lot. The dispute began when church members arrived early in the morning for a work day to clean up a parking lot and plaza they own and begin preparation for the site to eventually become home to a new church location.

The parking lot and huge plaza are in front of the main entry to a large soccer stadium.

The Upper Room church members, numbering in the hundreds, arrived wearing yellow construction helmets and shirts that said “Christ Lives!” They immediately began clearing trash, painting walls, and covering over graffiti images of famed players from Alianza Lima, one of Peru’s most historic clubs. Soccer fans arrived shortly after and attacked the church members.

The club stated in a news release that it has owned the plaza for 40 years. But church attorney Sandro Balbin produced documents showing the church has been the registered owner of the property since 2016. The parking lot and plaza are now used for concerts, parking and a gathering place for fans before and after games.

The Upper Room, one of the country’s largest protestant churches, has thousands of members across the country and wants to hold worship services there with an eventual building.