“A question of legitimacy and a question of honor for the government and ELAS”, characterized the arrest of all those involved in the criminal murderous attack against the 31-year-old police officer in Rentis, the Minister of Citizen Protection, Giannis Oikonomou.

At the same time, he expressed the belief that the upgrading of the criminal monitoring of the case, will achieve a crushing blow to the defunct, soapy, criminal gangs with activity in criminal crime and with a connection to the extreme right and the anarchist space, as he characterized them.

Speaking in the Parliament, during the discussion of the 2024 state budget, Mr. Economou made a special reference to fan violence, he spoke of “exacerbation of sports violence”, he emphasized that “steps have been taken but more must be done”, while pointing out the need “a social alliance against it so that the gangs of hooligans do not find any moral, ideological and material support from anyone”.

“For us in the government, in the Greek police, the most important thing is to arrest all those involved in the organization and implementation of this murderous attack, this criminal act, to completely dismantle the criminal organizations of the hooligans, for which we delivered a lot of evidence to the justice system. It is a question of legality but at the same time a question of honor”, emphasized Mr. Economou and added:

“Recently, everyone in Greek society, and especially us in Greek police, we live under the heavy shadow of the policeman’s murderous attack on Rentis, with a direct shot of a naval flare. But this did not happen for the first time, just as the case of murderous attacks with explosive Molotov cocktails has not happened once, in Exarchia, Polytechnioupoli, Athens, Thessaloniki and elsewhere.

We have been facing a major qualitative and quantitative escalation for a long time, especially in hooligan violence. A complete gentrification of these gangs. This is the real definition. Outlaw gangs out to kill. Gangs with activity both in criminal crime and with a connection to the extreme right and to the anarchist and anti-authoritarian space”.

As Mr. Economou said, “despite the important steps taken in the field of suppression and prevention, the reality is that we must react more effectively and more decisively”.

“We are already filling in legislative gaps and operational deficiencies to make our action even more effective, but the first, the main thing we must keep in mind is that in order to effectively deal with hooligan violence, a solid social alliance is needed against it. The gangs of hooligans should not find any moral, ideological and material support from anyone. It is necessary not to allow the slightest excuse or alibi to these types of criminals”, said Mr. Economou while continuing in the same style: “D can for a goal that he did not count or for an “off-side” that was not given, war zone conditions are created, either literally outside the stadiums or figuratively in the public sphere. This is the reality. Sports events cannot be treated by the state as military operations employing hundreds of people. And the policemen who go, become the end of the day and the punching bag by everyone and by those who do not wish their presence and by those who eagerly asked for it. This is what we need to achieve. And unfortunately we’re not at that point yet.”

Responding to the PASOK-KINAL member of parliament and head of Citizen Protection, Nadia Giannakopoulouwho accused the government of ineffectively dealing with youth delinquency and fan violence and characterized the submission of evidence to the Supreme Court as communicative in nature, Mr. Economou countered that “steps were taken, laws were passed, things changed, but it was found that they must be done even more”.

“We requested on behalf of the government, the upgrading of the criminal monitoring of the case. It is now established that these groups act with a plan, with a hierarchy, in a coordinated manner and the presentation of evidence – which was scattered right and left – which is now at the disposal of the authorities, we hope, we aspire, we believe, that it will be very useful in to achieve a very important, overwhelming blow to this type of criminal organizations, the hooligan gangs”, emphasized Mr. Economou.

Responding to the parliamentary representative of the Hellenic Solution, Konstantinos Chita, who characterized the measures announced by the government to deal with fan violence as ineffective, Mr. Economou said that “concrete things will be done within these two months”.

“Things will be done that will allow the Greek state, in sports, in the way sports games will be conducted with the help of technology and with various adjustments to be even more shielded from the moods of these organizations, these deified hooligan organizations” , he emphasized.

However, Mr. Economou also made special reference to juvenile delinquency.

“It is a phenomenon that ELAS is called upon to manage in its last stage of incident prevention and repression. From September onwards we have planned and implemented specific actions, in municipalities of Attica and also in neighborhoods of Athens, to deal with this phenomenon. But to be honest, the culture of violence and disloyalty, especially at these ages, is born of family, social, economic, cultural and educational failures and failures. Without the intervention in schools, clubs, associations, families where delinquency is born and moves, any other intervention will not succeed in having the results we want”, he said.

The Minister of Citizen Protection emphasized the changes that are progressing, as he said, for the structure of ELAS, noting that “a special committee has already been set up and will soon propose key procedures and management of the personnel as well as the transformation of the structures”.

“Our policy against crime must be dynamic and this requires modernization in our operation. We have already started the procedures to strengthen ELAS with new technological means. We are rapidly strengthening the Greek police with resources from international financial tools but also with resources from the state budget, with technological means”, he said and added:

“The pandemic of violence that we are facing as a whole, not only in Greece but also in the rest of the world, requires prudence, composure, deep cuts, educational and social, it is not dealt with either by shouting or hypocrisy. In order to be efficient, the Greek police needs a social army with zero tolerance, moral, ideological or even material towards violence. The entire political world has the obligation to take the lead in this pan-army without asterisks and without footnotes”.

“For us, and primarily for the Greek police, the constant confrontation with delinquency in all its manifestations is a one-way street. It is a one-way street because we know that civilization begins with order, develops with freedom and is destroyed with chaos. And there is no way we will allow chaos,” he stressed.

As Mr. Economou mentioned, “in the last four months alone, ELAS managed to dismantle two large criminal organizations that caused hundreds of millions of euros in damage to the public with tax frauds.”

“He arrested many hundreds of immigrant smugglers, dismantled many drug trafficking networks by seizing tons of cocaine and hashish. It has significantly increased road safety controls, managed in an impeccably charged environment important events,” he noted while concluding by saying:

“Is everything going well? Have we reset the event book? Don’t we have delinquency? No. But we work hard with a plan, we deal with pathogens, distortions. Things are not all perfect but they are getting better and society and citizens recognize that.”