Filenews 15 August 2023
The anti-riot team of the Police is ready, so that with the imminent start of the new sports year, it will throw itself into the battle to combat hooliganism.
A large group of members of the MMAD has already been trained to deal with incidents with hooligans and in connection with the teams that exist in the police directorates, they will be the spearhead of the Police to suppress incidents of violence in sports venues.
The creation of an anti-riot team was one of the nine measures decided last March, after the incidents in the semi-final of the Apollon – Anorthosis basketball cup. Of these measures, only two have been implemented, one to strengthen checks at stadium entrances by police officers and the other to the anti-riot team.
The rest mainly require legislative regulation and as the Minister of Justice and Public Order, Anna Koukkidi Prokopiou, told us, the relevant bills with the changes were passed by the Council of Ministers and forwarded to the Legal Service for legislative processing. These will concern:
– Amendment of the legislation to allow the conduct of breathalyzer and narcotic tests, for the purpose of fully implementing the ban on entry into sports venues and their vicinity of persons who are intoxicated or under the influence of drugs.
– Change of legislation to increase the penalty of exclusion of offending fans from sports venues up to 10 years.
– Intensification of controls and surveillance of the movement of organized supporters by the Police.
– Amendment of the relevant legislation on the involvement of the Police in the control of the application of the fan card in sports venues.
– Amendment of legislation so that closed circuit surveillance systems are installed in all stadiums where first division matches are held, regardless of capacity, within specific timetables to be determined in consultation with all stakeholders. The aim is to implement the fan card measure more effectively. At the same time, it was requested to implement a strict timetable for the installation of closed circuit surveillance systems at all stages, where today the necessary legal standards are not met.
– On the basis of an opinion of the Legal Service, the possibility of promoting, in the form of urgency, an amendment of the relevant legislation, so that the recommendation of the Police to the relevant Federation to ban the movement of fans will become binding. In case of new incidents, the Police will be able to recommend the holding of matches behind closed doors, with the last measure being the prohibition of matches.
Finally, it was decided to re-evaluate the financial or other assistance of the state to the unions.
