Filenews 5 December 2022
Absolute chaos prevailed last night in Tsirio, before the start of the Apollon - AEL match. The match eventually never started because of the incidents between the fans of the two teams. According to the Police, tear gas was used to suppress the incidents and the AIANTAS anti-riot vehicle was used.
At the same time, a member of the Police was injured in the incidents, when a flare was thrown at him. He was taken to Limassol General Hospital where he was found to have a burn on the right hemithorax. He was given first aid and discharged while being granted sick leave.
As reported by the Police, for the needs of the struggle, the Crisis Handling Centre of the Limassol Police Department operated, while the forces of the Limassol Police Authority were reinforced by the MMAD with two anti-riot platoons, the Nicosia and Paphos ADE with anti-riot platoons and the Department of Technological Development with two crews for drone operation. "During the inspections at the stadium, a 20-year-oldperson was found to be in possession of 3 torches and was arrested for an offence committed in the act."
Specifically, according to the announcement of the Police, between the hours of 6.26 and 6.47 in the afternoon, before the start of the match, AEL fans allegedly threw firecrackers inside the pitch while allegedly causing damage to the concrete layer of the stand and the chairs, while during the departure of the Apollon players after the warm-up, concrete stones that were previously removed from the AEL stand, were thrown at them.
After analyzing the events, the players of the two teams were summoned to the Operations Centre of the Stadium and after being indicated through the closed circuit of the stadium the situation that prevailed, the person in charge of policing the match together with the security officer and the agents of the two teams, informed the referee about the existing situation and decided that for security reasons the match could not be held. With the announcement of the non-holding of the match, the organized fans of the two teams began throwing fireworks and torches inside the pitch while in the AEL stand a fire was set on a pile of chairs that had been previously removed.
The fire was extinguished by the Fire Department. Later outside the stadium, the fans of the two teams attacked the members of the Police with stones, Molotov cocktails and flares.
Upon leaving, the fans of the two teams allegedly damaged four cars parked in the surrounding area of the stadium, by throwing Molotov cocktails, flares and stones. As a result, a member of the Police was injured and ended up in the Hospital.
Damage was also caused to three premises with the use of flares, while three plastic garbage bins were burned to the ground.
The ICF Limassol continues the examinations.
