The chief of Staff of the Hellenic Police Headquarters will lead a sworn administrative inquiry into the failure of Greek police nationally to prevent Dinamo Zagreb football hooligans from reaching Athens to attend a game and from initiating incidents resulting in the death of an AEK football fan, despite being warned by Croatian and Montenegro authorities at least two days ahead, it was announced on Tuesday.
The inquiry will be led by Police Lieutenant-General Eleftherios Garilas, who will also investigate why police failed to stop the hooligans despite a ban of the Dinamo fans from attending their team’s game against AEK at the OPAP Arena in Nea Filadelfia on Tuesday.
Specifically, the Greek police’s Subdirectorate of Managing Violence in Sports Areas had notified police headquarters with three documents, conveying information by Croatia’s Security and Intelligence Agency that nearly 100 fans of Dinamo Zagreb were planning to travel to Greece and be hosted by fans of a Greek football team or stay at Airbnb rentals. The Croatian Agency’s messages to the Greek police also noted that AEK fans had been informed about these arrivals and were getting organized near the OPAP Arena in Nea Filadelfia.
Based on this information, the police headquarters issued an order to the Kakavia border and to Thessaloniki officials, but despite the warning from the central offices and from Montenegro authorities that the hooligans had travelled through the latter country, the convoy managed to travel through Greece toward Athens without being stopped.
Some of the hooligans were noted at the Elefsina toll station by police security, while several of them stopped at Kiato, NW of Corinth. From there they split up in smaller groups and travelled to Athens either in their own cars or on the urban raiload to Athens. The largest part of the group travelled in about 25 cars to the ‘Irini’ station on the Athens metro Line 1 (Isap), where they met with Panathinaikos football supporters. From there they used the same line to ‘Pefkakia’ station, walking from there to the Arena, outside of which the clashes took place on Monday night, ahead of the Dinamo Zagreb-AEK game, part of the UEFA Champions League series, which has been postponed.
MAT riot police forces had already been mobilised but arrived after the eruption of violence in which an AEK supporter was knifed and shortly afterwards died. Eight people were injured, including Croatian hooligans. A total of 98 people were detained in connection with the incidents: 84 are Croatian nationals, one is Austrian, one is Bosnian, one is Albanian, one is German and two are Greeks. They are being held at the Attica Security headquarters, while some of the eight people injured are being held under guard in hospital.
The clashes were also responsible for starting a fire in a stream bed that was put out by the fire brigade and the police were forced to use tear gas to disperse and then apprehend those involved.
