Opposition parties welcomed the announcement of measures by the government to deal with fan violence with reactions and criticisms.

The criticism of the parties focuses primarily on the effectiveness of the new measures and the whether they will prove to be a deterrent for new episodes of violence since only a few months ago the government was forced to proceed with a tightening of sports legislation after the murder of AEK fan Michalis Katsouri.

The president of SYRIZA, Stefanos Kasselakis, commenting on the measures, states that the government is unable to deal with the problem of fan violence and thus resorts to a punitive policy everywhere without targeting and results.

In particular, the president of SYRIZA states in his post that “the government decided to hold matches behind closed doors for two months, doing what it always does. Can’t deal with violence on the pitches? It’s against all fans. Can’t he tackle tax evasion? It is aimed at all freelancers. Punitive policy everywhere, without targeting and result”.

Mr. Kasselakis stating that the rest of the measures that were announced were those that he had proposed on Saturday and that I presented this morning in a video, he adds that “they are self-evident, but the issue is finally to implement them”. Because other times the Mitsotakis government announced measures, and since then we had the murder of a fan a few months ago and a policeman who is now fighting for his life.”

At the same time, with their announcement, the heads of the Citizen Protection and Sports departments of SYRIZA, Kostas Barkas and Alexandros Meikopoulos respectively, state that the horizontal measure to hold matches without spectators is the Government’s desperate attempt to save itself politically and emphasize that the measure will lead to moving the problem to other sports venues.

For its part, PASOK characterizes the ban on fans staying in sports venues as a sensational move, while stating that the need for additional measures demonstrates the government’s failure to deal with the phenomenon of fan violence, while just a few months ago it had proceeded to adopt a stricter legislative framework.

In particular, a statement from the party states that “only a few months have passed since the announcement of the new stricter legislative framework, which the New Democracy government is unable to implement. Thus, today it was once again announced the installation of cameras in the stadiums and the verification of the identity of the fans, which we hope will happen as soon as possible”.

“But on the other hand, the government closes the sports grounds for two months in a sensational move, which affects the majority of healthy fans and does not deal with the problem at its root” the same announcement emphasizes.

In closing, PASOK submits its own proposal to prevent fan violence, proposing as a counterweight to the decision to hold matches behind closed doors that “those who are involved in acts of fan violence or have been convicted in the past for similar offenses, should be banned for life the entrance to sports grounds. For the measure to be successful, all modern identification technologies should be used, as in other European states”.

The KO of the New Left also issued a statement criticizing the new measures, stating that “the more reluctant a government is to face a specific problem, the more horizontal and therefore unfair measures it resorts to. Today’s announcement to hold the games for two months behind closed doors is inconsistent with the government’s announcements about effective measures to combat violence.”

At the same time, KO lists the measures it considers should be taken.

In their announcement, they mention in particular about the measures announced by the government that it is a “shocking decision that reinforces the logic of the collective punishment of teams and fans”. They stress that “the self-evident condemnation of the murderous attack against the unfortunate policeman dictates seriousness, specific measures and above all recognition of the state’s responsibilities”. They point out that our country has the strictest criminal justice system for offenses covered by the sports law, while they comment that “despite the announcements and the demonstration of communicative rigor, nothing seems to change in practice”.