‘Exemplary punishment’ for football hooligans

“Exemplary” punishment will be meted out to four men who were arrested after serious incidents of football violence at the Ael-Apollo match in Limassol, Justice Minister Marios Hartsiotis said on Monday.

The arrests were made on Sunday evening.

The suspects are two 17-year-olds, an 18-year-old and a 21-year-old, all from Limassol, who were intercepted outside the Ael fan club premises, shortly after they were seen getting into a car intending to escape.

Police stopped and checked the vehicle and found a metal bat and hoods, whereupon the four were arrested.

The suspects were subsequently taken to Limassol police offices where they were re-arrested under court warrants and taken into custody.

Speaking on CyBC radio, police spokesman Christos Andreou said three of the four admitted to having entered the stadium illegally without tickets.

Police have also released the photographs of 17 additional people wanted in connection with the incidents which unfolded at the Alphamega stadium and led to the injury of three officers, one seriously.

Hartsiotis said exemplary punishment would be meted out to any perpetrators of the violence on Sunday, adding they could not be characterised as sports fans.

He called on all authorities, including the sports clubs, stadium managers, and the Cyprus football association (Koa) to take up their duties, saying the police could not be held solely responsible.

“The police has other far more serious problems to tackle and, unfortunately, the public [taxpayer] now has to pay [thousands of euros] for the overtime of officers who were required to secure a football game,” the minister said.

Questioned about “gaps” in police planning, the minister reiterated that all authorities needed to be held to account and gave the example of the stadium doors over which a horde of 800 fans managed to jump and subsequently destroy, charging its structural suitability should concern stadium owners.

A detailed investigation of all aspects of the violence has been requested by police chief Stelios Papatheodorou.

Police had signalled to the referee that the match could not go ahead, after some among the horde of 800 fans who broke down the stadium doors, were known to have entered illegally, while others refused to evacuate when called to so do, for a prohibited items check.

Police made the announcement over the megaphone in an effort to give the match “another chance” to go ahead, Andreou said.

Clashes between Ael fans and police started ahead of the game with Apollon, which authorities had classed as ‘high risk’.

A fire was set outside the stadium and flares were thrown before the start of the game, one of which was removed from the pitch with no damages and another which caused minor damage.

Earlier in the evening a bag of Molotov cocktails and torches had been found.

Police’s call for fans to leave the stadium to be checked met with further violence as fans began throwing stones and Molotov cocktails at police and officers attempted to disburse the crowd by using the water canon Aiantas.

Three officers were injured, with one now in a private hospital after undergoing knee surgery. The other two sustained burns from flares and wounds from noxious sprays.

Strict orders had been issued ahead of the game on how fans were to enter the stadium, and what protocols were to be followed, with Hartsiotis earlier on Sunday calling on fans to behave.

Hundreds of police officers and riot police had been deployed to the stadium, and a crisis management centre had also been setup on site.

However, a group of Ael supporters, in particular, arrived at the scene behaving aggressively from the start.

“It was clear they came with the preplanned intention to generate clashes so as to enable others to slip into the stadium illegally,” Hartsiotis said.

A group of fans did comply with police orders to evacuate but as not everyone did, the police could not guarantee the stadium’s safety and gave this evaluation to the referee, who called off the match.

Stadium violence has been plaguing the sport for years. Earlier this year, the Cyprus Cup derby between Apollon and Ael which was also to have been played at the Alphamega stadium, was cancelled due to violent incidents.

Some have called for the police chief’s resignation over the matter, but Papatheodorou said he would not resign.