Damascus, Syria ? Hundreds of Kurds rioted at a funeral Saturday for victims of a soccer stadium stampede, vandalizing shops and state offices and shouting anti-government slogans — a rare protest in tightly controlled Syria. At least one person was killed and 17 wounded, hospital officials said.

Witnesses said police fired shots into the air to disperse the crowd in Qamishli, a city along the border with predominantly Kurdish southeastern Turkey where a soccer match Friday erupted into a melee between fans of Kurd and Arab teams. The death toll from the stadium stampede rose Saturday to nine, hospital officials said.

Saturday’s riot broke out as a crowd of Kurds buried three victims. Mourners shouted slogans against Qamishli governor Salim Kabboul and attacked shops and government buildings, setting fire to a Department of Customs office, said Ibrahim al-Hussein, a lawyer.

A local politician, Abdel Baki Youssef of the Kurdish Yakiti Party, said police shot dead a number of rioters Saturday, but hospitals in the city did not confirm this.

The state National Hospital said it received only one fatality. Three other hospitals said they had received a combined total of 17 wounded.