Crisis talks on sports violence

By Charlie Charalambous

THE GOVERNMENT yesterday called for a crisis meeting to combat hooliganism in sport after weekend crowd trouble in Nicosia at football and basketball matches.

Worried about the growing number of violent incidents at sporting venues, Justice Minister Nicos Koshis will convene an emergency meeting between sports bodies and the police later this week.

After clashes between rival supporters at the Omonia-Apollonas football game on Sunday, Koshis partly blamed the clubs for the behaviour of violent supporters.

He said they must do more to tackle violent offenders.

The Sports Federation has also called for an emergency session of the National Committee Against Hooliganism.

Police said around 200 rival fans clashed after the Omonia game, which resulted in two arrests and five people being slightly injured, including a police officer.

The trouble started when sets of fans started throwing rocks at each other before and during the game. The violence then spread outside the Makarios stadium.

It is not the first time this season that local derby games have been marred by crowd violence, despite increased security and policing.

Sunday’s disturbances at the Makarios stadium followed acts of hooliganism at the Apoel-Ael basketball match the previous day, when two policemen and a civilian were injured during crowd trouble.

Five Limassol students were arrested by police after cars and shops were smashed after the basketball game.

The five youths were later remanded for six days.

Sports Federation chairman Demos Georgiades described the recent incidents as “disturbing” and said he would attend the meeting requested by Koshis.

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