POLICE have dismissed claims that they had prevented an ambulance driver from picking up a boy during last weekend’s big Nicosia derby game between APOEL and Omonia at the GSP Stadium.
Speaking to the Cyprus Mail, Police spokesman Demetris Demetriou said the incident had been grossly exaggerated.
“The whole thing has been blown completely out of proportion by everybody. What happened was that a boy who was at the stadium said that he began to feel ill and an ambulance was called in. However, the road the ambulance driver had taken had been blocked because of the large amount of cars parked outside the stadium. A policeman who was there told the ambulance driver that he couldn’t pass simply because it was impossible to pass through because of all the cars parked everywhere.
“From what I know, the discussion got very heated when the ambulance driver insisted on passing and wouldn’t switch off his sirens. The fact that his sirens were wailing continuously created a lot of confusion because people started gathering around to find out what was going on.
“Meanwhile during all that arguing, the boy was examined by the stadium doctor who found nothing wrong with him in the end.”
The game, which finished in a 1-1 draw between the two bitter rivals, once again saw scenes of violence, as fans clashed both inside and outside the stadium. On the terraces, bottles and chairs were hurled, while outside the grounds police clashed with fans from both teams, while cars and buses were also damaged.
A fan who was at the stadium told the Cyprus Mail that he could hear the ambulance wailing in the background.
“Although I was inside the stadium I could hear the ambulance in the background because I was sitting at the top of the terraces behind the goal. The sirens kept going for about 20 minutes and we all started wondering what was going on.”
As for the clashes, he said it looked like fighting was on the cards as soon as APOEL scored their late goal. “As soon as APOEL scored, we knew that their might be trouble because the Omonia fans were not happy about it and surely enough there was.”
