NICOSIA WAS yesterday counting the cost of the latest bout of football hooliganism, which left five people seriously injured and a club destroyed as Omonia fans rampaged after their team’s victory in the cup final on Wednesday night.
During the fracas, which went on until the early hours, fans also torched rubbish bins and defaced walls with spray paint as police used teargas to disperse them.
The five injured men were the victims of what was described by police as an “organised and unprovoked” attack by hundreds of Omonia fans at the Scaraveos club in Nicosia.
One of the club’s four owners suffered burns to his legs by petrol bombs hurled by the hooligans. His partner had his finger severed in the attack and another suffered head injuries.
Police ultimately arrested 18 people – none related with the attack — in Nicosia, Larnaca – where the game was held – and Limassol.
“They were wielding shovels, clubs, rocks, molotovs – one had a sickle,” an eyewitness told the Cyprus Mail. It is understood that doctors tried to re-attach the man’s finger but it was not immediately known if they were successful.
In all, three of the injured are still being treated in private clinics.
The witness said the trouble started at around 10.30 pm. Celebrating fans drove by the club — located in a side street off Themistocles Dhervis Avenue — several times and at one point there was an exchange with two or three punters sitting outside, understood to have been supporters of archrivals APOEL.
During another pass, the fans threw a firecracker in the garden and the owners came out to see what was happening.
By that time, hundreds of Omonia fans had assembled just down the road, preparing to attack. Five, six people, including the owners stepped out on the street in a bid to protect their property.
“The owners and the staff did not provoke. They did not do anything. They went out to protect their business. It is logical. They were going to be assaulted,” the witness said.
As the fans rushed the place, some attacked the small group while others went on the rampage in the club’s yard destroying everything in sight.
“They hurled molotovs … others smashed motorbikes across the street,” the eyewitness said. The owners retreated inside the club along with the customers and shut the doors. “They started hurling rocks and things through the windows and were also poised to hurl a Molotov inside the shop.”
The whole fracas lasted around 10 minutes – until a police patrol car arrived and people started to disperse as riot police also converged on the scene.
“They were very organised. They were prepared,” the witness said. Another witness saw the fans just before the attack, while they were assembling.
“They had clubs, rocks and started to cover their faces with scarves …,” she said. The witness said there were around 500, and moments later they were smashing everything.
“It was chaos,” she said. “This was a crime … an organised attack.”
Police spokesman Michalis Katsounotos said the force arrived on the scene within minutes. “If police had not been there in time they would have killed them,” he said.
He said they were studying the footage from the club’s security cameras in a bid to identify any of the perpetrators.
Later Wednesday, not far away from Scaraveos, at a main junction, police fired teargas to disperse fans who blocked roads during the celebrations.
Fans hurled missiles at officers in riot gear and torched rubbish bins along the road.
At the same time, unknown individuals believed to be Omonia supporters tried to torch the offices of nationalists ELAM, located close to the Omonia clubhouse.
Others spray-painted slogans on what seemed to be every wall on Makarios Avenue while kiosks set up by political parties and billboards were trashed.
Yesterday the force was bracing ahead of Sunday’s elections given that football in Cyprus is heavily politicised.
Omonia’s fans are affiliated to leftist AKEL while rivals APOEL are mostly connected to right-wing DISY. A section of APOEL fans is also linked to ELAM.
“We are stepping up measures; we have no choice,” Katsounotos told the Cyprus Mail. “The tense climate does not allow for complacency.”
The government condemned the fresh football-related violence.
