Stone-throwing youths set fire to everything in their path

THE HOOLIGANS who ran riot in Limassol on over the weekend, turned part of the city centre into a warzone.
Eleven officers were injured, two of them seriously. Under a hail of stones and other projectiles police tried to keep apart rival sets of fans who were itching for a fight hours after Saturday’s Cup final.
One officer suffered a slashed tendon on his right arm after being struck with a shard of glass, and a second had a broken nose when a missile got past his shield and struck his face.
Most of the disturbances concentrated in the area around Enaerios, a popular hangout for youngsters. Hoodlums set fire to garbage bins, and a number of shop windows were shattered. Firefighters rushed to the scene and had to dodge stones.
Four people have been arrested and remanded. Authorities are looking for two more youths, and have not ruled out more arrests.
The clashes were between supporters of Apollon FC, who had just won the Cup final, and fans of AEL, also a Limassol club.
The Cup final, which took place in Larnaca, featured Apollon and APOEL, and had nothing to do with AEL. But the disturbances migrated to Limassol as celebrations got underway there. A number of cars returning from Larnaca were pelted with stones, presumably by AEL fans.
Following a celebration and a fireworks display outside the Apollon club headquarters, groups of fans started heading out to the Enaerios area, where AEL supporters were amassed and waiting for them.
Riot squads were deployed to Enaerios, their mission to prevent a direct clash between the two camps. Police made heavy use of teargas as they inevitably came into the crossfire of stones and Molotov cocktails. The clashes lasted until the early morning hours.
The mood in Limassol had been charged since Saturday morning. The previous night, thugs had damaged several cars parked close to the Apollon fan club.
At Larnaca’s GSZ stadium, the venue of the Cup final, police fired smoke bombs to disperse angry fans after the game. Four youths were later treated at Larnaca general hospital for respiratory problems.
A few hours before kickoff, and acting on a tipoff, Larnaca police found and confiscated a stash of weapons obviously intended for use by hooligans. The cache, located in a car with fake license plates, included 15 Molotov cocktails, 30 wooden bats, 27 crash helmets, a plastic container filled with a flammable liquid, and a large bucket filled with rocks.