More than a hundred people, including 94 Croats, are to appear before the Athens prosecutor’s office on Wednesday, suspected of being involved in the death of a Greek fan during violent clashes on Monday evening between supporters of the Croatian football club Dinamo Zagreb and the ‘Aek of Athens in the suburbs of the Greek capital.
The police have so far arrested “104 people including 94 Croats, six Greeks, an Albanian, an Austrian, a Bosnian and a German”, said Konstantina Dimoglidou, spokesperson for the Greek police, specifying that they must be brought before the Athens Public Prosecutor’s Office. She pointed out that “among these 104 people, the majority of whom are under 30, are five men arrested on Tuesday in the port of Igoumenitsa”, 480km northwest of Athens, as they tried to leave Greece for Italy.
The majority of the arrests came during Monday night’s clash between two clubs’ ultras near the AEK stadium in Nea Filadelphia, Athens’ western suburbs, in which Michalis Katsouris, 29, was stabbed in the left arm . He succumbed to his injuries while being transferred to an Athens hospital overnight from Monday to Tuesday. At least eight people were injured – three Greeks and five Croats – in the incidents, which occurred the day before the scheduled match in the third preliminary round of the Champions League.
Deploring these “appalling incidents”, UEFA had to postpone this match, specifying that it was in discussion with the two clubs to reschedule the meeting on Friday August 18 or Saturday August 19. Around 120 Dinamo Zagreb fans along with Greek supporters took part in the incidents, Greek police said on Tuesday, adding that “supporters clashed throwing stun grenades, stones and incendiary devices and other objects. Some had bats.
The tragedy shocked Greece where violence frequently marks football matches. After football fans killed a young man in northern Thessaloniki last year, Greece has increased the maximum prison sentence for perpetrators from six months to five years. Eight Greek police officers were suspended on Tuesday, Greek Citizen Protection Minister Yannis Oikonomou described as “unacceptable and unacceptable” the fact that around 100 Dinamo supporters were able to enter Greece without be seen by the Greek police.
