Handball : émeute à Lamia – mai 2010
Rival sports fans clash in Greece: police
AFP
ATHENS — Hundreds of sports fans fought a pitched battle in the central Greek city of Lamia on Saturday, injuring 14 people and forcing officials to suspend a handball match, police and reports said.
The clashes broke out in the early morning between fans of Athens club AEK and supporters of PAOK, from the northern city of Thessaloniki, damaging shops and sending people scurrying for cover as police fired tear gas into the fray.
« The situation was out of control, » a city resident told state television NET. « The fans were throwing Molotov cocktails, bricks and chairs at each other, » another man said.
The police department said 14 people including three police officers were injured, without giving details. Thirteen suspects were arrested and a further 20 detained pending further investigation, a police statement said.
News reports earlier said a local woman was hospitalised with breathing problems after police used tear gas to disperse the fans. Reports also said several people were injured in clashes at the handball stadium.
Reports said around 500 fans were involved in the city incident, smashing up at least five shops, a car and a sales kiosk, and setting fire to garbage bins.
The police could not give details on the number of fans involved.
Order was restored for a time after the rival groups were separated by the police, but new clashes began in the stadium ahead of the match, a national cup semi-final, forcing authorities to order a suspension of the entire tournament of finals planned for the weekend.
« The match has been suspended indefinitely because of the pitiful incidents… and the handball cup finals will likewise be suspended for the same reasons, » general sports secretary Panagiotis Bitsaxis said in a statement.
In footage taken inside the stadium, state television NET showed fans throwing broken seats and flares at each other for several minutes before riot police arrived to set them apart.
Broken tiles and pieces of marble broken from the stadium bathrooms were also used as projectiles, NET said.
The station said several people were injured inside the stadium, including a number of fans and a member of the match scorekeepers.
The violence began in the early hours of Saturday began after a large group of PAOK fans attacked an AEK fan club in the city.
« The police failed to meet their responsibilities, » Lamia mayor George Kotronias told private Flash Radio. « They had given us a guarantee which they failed to live up to. »
The authorities have spent years trying to eradicate widespread violence in Greek sport, usually centred around football and basketball but occasionally affecting other events such as waterpolo, volleyball and handball.
A mix of tougher laws and closer cooperation with clubs has failed to quell the violence.
Three years ago a 25-year-old fan died in an pre-arranged clash involving around 300 Olympiakos and Panathinaikos supporters in Peania, east of Athens, ahead of a women’s volleyball match.
Greek sports clubs each have a number of different teams including sides for football, basketball and handball.
Handball: échauffourées entre supporters d’équipes en Grèce
Reuters
29/05/10
ATHENES – Huit personnes ont été hospitalisées, dont plusieurs à la suite de blessures à l’arme blanche, lors d’affrontements tôt samedi entre supporters de deux clubs rivaux de handball à Lamia, dans le centre de la Grèce.
Selon la police, les incidents ont éclaté lorsqu’environ 150 supporters du PAOK Salonique venus assister à la finale d’un tournoi ont marché sur le local du club d’AEK Athènes, où ils ont attaqué les fans avant de lancer des engins incendiaires sur le bâtiment.
Des magasins ont été endommagés lors de ces échauffourées, qui ont duré une heure environ.
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