Amateur Olympiakos for Police: “Decision reminiscent not just of junta, but of Nazi retaliatory tactics”

Incident, which took place outside and away from the field of the match by a group of people who had nothing to do with the match, neither before nor after the incident. It is emphasized that the episodes started after the victorious 1st set for OSFP, of the volleyball match, without any apparent reason. And the serious injury took place on a side street at a distance of almost five hundred meters from the Melina Merkouri indoor stadium. Facts that prove they were instigated by rioters who probably didn’t come back to it after it ended but went off in unknown directions as it would have been very easy for the police to corral and arrest them based on the forces they already had in the area. Instead the panicked and tragic reaction of the police supervisors was to throw countless chemicals and tear gas near the stadium, poisoning the atmosphere inside the closed stadium, endangering around 800 attendees (team delegations, escorts, match officials and fans , minor Academy athletes and young professional footballers of our team), to panic in families and small children and of course to stop the match (a fact that is the least of our concern) since it was not possible to leave or stay on the field. This tragically irresponsible and dangerous reaction by police chiefs continued in an even more tragic way.

For the first time in Greek history, not just sports, it was decided to KILL all the fans, inside the closed stadium, with the use of force, because a police officer was injured. A decision which caused even greater panic among the fans and was dangerously aggravated by a fire in the interior of the closed stadium from an unknown cause, which fortunately was extinguished with the immediate intervention of the OLYMPICOS Management and not the Fire Department, which was not allowed to approach! After desperate pleas from the OLYMPIAKOS management for calm, it was decided by the police to release only the women and children and the athletes of the two teams, illegally detaining approximately 500 fans, i.e. all men over the age of 15!! A decision that is clearly reminiscent, not just of the junta, but of the retaliatory tactics of the NAZIs!! Unfortunately, their inability to anticipate the incidents and their inability to deal with them, continued with the decision to bring hundreds of hostages in cages, to the dungeons of the Directorate of Transitional Courts of Attica in Petrou Ralli. Among them sponsors, partners, employees, journalists, fathers, athletes, many of whom were beaten and insulted for no reason.

We experienced truly tragic moments, with children saying goodbye to their fathers with sobs and kisses, women hugging their partners and friends! We declare to all of them in the clearest and most categorical way that OLYMPIAKOS will stand by their side in every way, until their complete moral and psychological rehabilitation.

Finally, to the political and physical leadership of the police, we address two simple questions: Do you really intend to apply the same hostage tactic in the future in every closed or open place of gathering of people in the event of an injury to a police officer? Are you really going to apply the same tactic if any fan is injured? In this case, gentlemen, all you have to do is submit your police IDs and RESIGN YESTERDAY, humbly apologizing to your seriously injured colleague, his relatives and Greek society. Close your homes with the lights off and consider that, in the year 2023, you decide to express in the most fascist way the long arm of state power, in your desperate attempt to cover up your incompetence, in the performance of your government and police duties.

And in the event that your numbness overcomes your guilt and you remain in your positions, you will forever be stigmatized for the harm you caused your unfortunate colleague by your inability to perform the duty of incident prevention. As well as hundreds of fans who suffered and continue to suffer beatings, insults and unwarranted violent behavior during their captivity which continues without legal cause.