Minister says police partly to blame for hooligan clashes

By George Psyllides

JUSTICE Minister Alecos Shambos yesterday conceded that police shared some responsibility for Saturday’s clashes between Limassol and Nicosia football supporters, which resulted in the serious injury of a 20-year-old man.

“Police has a share of the responsibility but many others have also got a share,” Shambos said.

Speaking before the House Crime Committee, the minister said the basic practice of police providing escort for travelling fans was wrong, but added the force had also made mistakes on Saturday.

Shambos said European Union guidelines stressed it was not right for police to escort fans.

“The police’s mission is to police the stadium in way that would allow it to intervene from the moment that trouble starts,” Shambos said.

Shambos said the police had made two mistakes on Saturday – not applying the plan for the fan’s transportation and failing to spot the group of Limassol fans who had ambushed the buses with stones.

Around 80 fans hid behind bushes outside the Tsirion stadium in Limassol and stoned buses carrying APOEL Nicosia supporters as they were returning home from Paphos.

Shambos added that the bus drivers had refused to follow the route suggested by the police, which was for the fans to travel to Nicosia through Troodos, avoiding Limassol altogether.

He said the bus drivers had claimed their vehicles could break down on the mountainous route and put their passengers’ lives at risk.

“This does not excuse the police, who should have insisted on the route being followed,” Shambos said.

He added that since trouble was a possibility, the pre-determined route should have been followed.

The minister said he would call a meeting with all involved as soon as possible to discuss the problems in depth and take decisions that everyone would respect and enforce.

Asked why no arrests had been made, Shambos said the fact that no one had been detained during the fracas made it more difficult for police to locate the culprits.

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