Amateur Panathinaikos: “Criminal action by the police”

The second semi-final of the Challenge Cup between Panathinaikos and Olympiakos was… postponed to tomorrow (16/02), after what happened at the Agios Thomas stadium and the tear gas fired by the police.

THE Amateur Panathinaikos after what happened he took a stand, speaking of “criminal action by the police” and aggressive behavior by the authorities. Also, the “clover” mentions that outside Gate 3 there was no pre-check.

The announcement in detail:

The Panathinaikos Athletic Club announces the events that took place at the indoor stadium of Agios Thomas in Marousi.

The Association expresses its strong dissatisfaction and concern about the attitude of the police forces before the start of the match against Olympiakos.

In a match where everyone at Panathinaikos did their best to make it a real celebration of volleyball, unfortunately it seems that the police forces who had taken over the security of the stadium did not have the same opinion.

Panathinaikos fully followed the police orders that were decided upon taking the measures and did not deviate from them at all.

It was the decision of the Police to open the stadium doors at 5:45 pm. and not earlier to avoid overcrowding.

However, while it was initially decided at the measures meeting that there would be police outside Gate 3 so that there would be a pre-check, in the end such a thing never happened.

On the contrary, until 5.40 p.m. there was not even a police force outside Gate 3 in order to do what was agreed upon.

All this had the result of creating a crowd outside the stadium by fans, permanent owners of Panathinaikos.

The attitude of the police force was aggressive, from the first moment it appeared, towards the season ticket holders and the result was to create a great tension that had not existed until that moment.

Willingly or not on the part of the police, incidents started which resulted in many injuries to fans and as if that was not enough, the police forces fired tear gas INTO the stadium and another on the steps of the Gate 3 entrance.

This is a CRIMINAL act and it raises questions about who gave this order, as an unbearable atmosphere was created and panic prevailed, since there were many children in the stands, as well as people with disabilities who all piled into a door and some were trampled trying to get out .

Questions remain unanswered about this action that endangered the lives of hundreds of people.

The President of Panathinaikos, Mr. Panagiotis Malakates, said in a statement: “I apologize for the suffering suffered by the fans of Panathinaikos and I apologize to the people who were needlessly injured. From here on, we will take the necessary actions in order to assign responsibility to those who carried out these actions tonight that endangered people’s lives and the smooth running of a European match and exposed our country internationally.”