Greece's example is oriented to be partially followed by the government to deal with the phenomena of violence in the stadiums, with the ball being shifted to the executive committee of the KOP which is meeting in an emergency today to take measures .
According to information from “F”, the government's intention is, after yesterday's deviant events in Limassol, that all the remaining matches in the league and the Cup will be played behind closed doors and not only with fans of the home team, as recently decided by the KOP. However, the possibility is left open that if the unions today take satisfactory decisions in the direction of dealing with violence, then the aforementioned measure will not be taken. However, if the KOP's measures are not deemed satisfactory, then it is not excluded that the President of the Republic, who has taken the whole issue upon himself and in close cooperation with the Minister of Justice, will call the presidents of the groups to a meeting to explain the decision of the government for matches without fans.
According to our same information, today Marios Hartsiotis will put the KOP in front of its responsibilities, since according to the law the federation has a large share of responsibility for the safety of a match. In fact, the minister, as mentioned yesterday in the Council of Ministers, will report to KOP that the government is not willing to send 300 policemen to every match paying overtime, because the unions are not taking measures to control their fans. Also, the minister will warn by closing Fan Links. After the briefing, Mr. Hartsiotis will leave and the government, according to what the Deputy Government Spokesman, Yiannis Antoniou, told us, will wait for the decisions of the KOP and move accordingly.
The matter was discussed by the Council of Ministers yesterday with the Government Spokesman, Konstantinos Letympiotis, stating that “a very detailed exchange of views took place, we have been informed that tomorrow (today) an extraordinary meeting of the Executive Committee of the KOP has been convened in which the exclusive topic of discussion is violence in the fields”. Before the discussion of the KOP Executive Committee begins, the Spokesperson said, the Minister of Justice and Public Order will be present to present the government's views and concerns. “After we are informed about the decisions of the Executive Committee, the Minister of Justice and Public Order in coordination with the President of the Republic will further consider possible specific measures that can be taken”.
Asked to comment on the Minister of Justice's statements and whether their content constituted a slander against the Police, the Spokesperson said that “what is inferred and what we need to know is that yesterday there was an intense police presence. At the same time, we must understand that the Police cannot and is not possible to have a strong presence in all the playing fields.
Playgrounds are not battlefields. Incidents had started outside the field of play and it was one of the reasons that the responsible police officer on the field of play informed the match referee in consultation with the Minister of Justice that, in those circumstances, there could not be adequate policing”.
Asked if there was a political decision to not start yesterday's match, the Spokesperson said that “the decision is made in accordance with the law. What happened last night, after the incidents started, is that the President of the Republic was informed, he himself contacted the Minister of Justice and Public Order, who duly contacted the police officer in charge at the playing field.
He was informed by the police officer in charge of the playing field that, as things stood, as events were taking place at the time, there could not be adequate policing of the site. The Minister of Justice and Public Order at the time. in coordination with the President of the Republic, he told the policeman to inform the referee of the match and the referee of the match, exactly as the law provides, decided not to hold the match”.
According to our information, the match referee was ready to start the match, despite the incidents, but the Police had expressed otherwise. Regarding the objects possessed by fans in the AEL stand, as seen from the closed circuit of the stadium, shortly before the start of the match, it shows several fans bending down at a certain point in the middle of the stand and taking the dangerous objects. It seems, from the Police's estimates, that the objects were in some cache of the stadium days before and were brought to the stand just before the start of the match.
It is noted that all areas of the stadium had been searched and sealed before the fans entered and, in fact, searches were also carried out by special dogs without detecting anything. That is why it is estimated that the dangerous materials were hidden in some area of the stadium (in a ceiling or somewhere else where it is difficult to locate them).
They knew about incidents 10 days ago
As the Minister of Justice, Marios Hartsiotis, reported yesterday, there had been information about incidents for ten days. “I expected that all those involved would inform their rioters that they would not tolerate the implementation of the information”, he said, while describing the difficult situation at the “Alpha Mega” Stadium, despite the fact that a special plan was drawn up by the Police based on the information that existed . He confirmed that there will be the necessary consultation with KOP.
In the meantime, the Chief of Police defended the actions taken in the interrupted match, stressing that in order to deal with the phenomena of violence inside the stadiums, according to the law, others are also responsible, photographing the clubs.
In his statements two 24 hours after the announcement of measures against fan violence and in the wake of the incidents at the “Alfa Mega” Stadium, Stelios Papatheodorou stated that most of the objects that passed through the stadium were large in size and “we are seriously considering the possibility of not they have passed through the entrances but through other areas. It can be either factors or persons related to the field. Recently, he said, “we made two arrests in Nicosia where objects were found in the ceiling”. Asked repeatedly if he intends to resign, taking responsibility, he refused and emphasized that he is doing his best to make things better. “My aim is to improve the Police, I have no intention of resigning. We consider that we coped sufficiently given that we had information about more serious incidents”, he said characteristically.
Meanwhile, the president of “Equality” called the KOP's decision to allow the presence of fans of the theoretically hosted team wrong. Nikos Loizidis. “The prohibition measure should not have taken effect from next Sunday, but from yesterday.” Mr. Loizidis referred to the incomplete facilities of the stadiums, complaining that despite thorough checks by members of the Police at the entrances of the stadium, flares and other things passed into the stands “from the holey facilities of the “Alfa Mega” stadium.
