August 8, 2023
FEATURED, Greece, Politics
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Seven senior officers in the Greek Police will immediately be removed from their positions following the serious incidents between soccer hooligans in Nea Philadelphia on Monday, in which one person was killed, Citizen Protection Minister Giannis Oikonomou announced on Tuesday.
Flowers, candles, scarves, cans of beer laid in memory of 29-year-old Michalis K. who was stabbed to death outside the AEK Football Club Arena in the Athenian suburb of Nea Philadelphia.
📸 via #aekfc Facebook pic.twitter.com/LzHMMcYgyG
— Daphne Tolis (@daphnetoli) August 8, 2023
Another ten people were injured, among them a 13-year-old girl and a 17-year-old boy.
Police under fire
One of the senior officers removed was a director in charge of “Violence in Sports” and the rest high ranking Traffic police officers all the way from the borders to Albania until Athens.
At the same time, an internal investigation has been ordered with the aim to find out how could the over 100 Croatian hooligans cross Greece’s northern border and drove all the way, more than 550 km, to Athens, despite an UEFA ban.
Meanwhile, mainstream websites posted internal police notes confirming that the Greek Police was informed in time about the arrival of the Croatian hooligans.
According to the forewarning notes, not only the Croatian convoy but also the buses registration numbers and information on the hooligans destination and accommodation were given as well as their contacts to an AEK rival Panathinaikos FC in the Greek capital. “All relevant police departments incl Police headquarters, police at Athens Airport etc. were informed accordingly two days earlier,” daily
ethnos
reported.
Even the managing company of the urban train
reportedly
informed the Police about the large group of hooligans taking the train to reach the AEK stadium.
Τhe Croatian Interior Ministry had informed Greek authorities about the arrival of the hooligans,
websites
reported.
According to reports, the Croatian fans of Dinamo Zagreb traveled to Greece by bus and were “discreetly” followed by police all the way to Athens. There they
split up into groups, and arrived to AEK stadium using cars, vans and the urban train.
Greek Police came under fire for allowing the Croatian convoy to reach Athens and they were late to intervene and stop the brawl, when it was obvious
Police are also being criticized for not stopping the brawl sooner, even though it was obvious that the fans of both sides were up to no good when they started converging at the stadium after the two teams finished practicing.
The match AEK-Dinamo Zagreb originally scheduled for Tuesday evening has been canceled.
Opposition parties demand the resignation of the Citizen Protection Minister, who was appointed to this post last month.
However, in a country like Greece, politicians’ resignation is a rarity and they always are content to push any responsibility away from them.
If Minister Oikonomou is the political leadership of the Greek Police, doesn’t he have any responsibility about the Police’s “exemplary incompetence”?
Tags AEK fan Croatians death Greek Police hooligans informed Michalis officers remove stabbed