There remains anger and relentless questions about the murderous attack in Nea Philadelphia, where Croatian hooligans (with the cooperation of Greek fans, as announced by Hellenic Police-ELAS), acted undisturbed, beating indiscriminately and killing 29-year-old Michalis.
EL.AS, to which many attribute criminal inaction, seems to have “woken up” after the incidents, and has launched a manhunt to locate the 29-year-old’s killer, setting up roadblocks throughout Greece, while today, Wednesday, at 9 am, the 94 people who were arrested and are being held are expected to be taken to the prosecutor .
As public broadcaater ERT reports, given that at least 50 “protagonists or participants” in the incidents are on the lam the Police have set up roadblocks on national roads and borders. Searches are still underway for houses, hotels and AIRBNB accommodation in the Attica Basin.
Relentless questions
The questions, however, are relentless. More importantly, how is it possible that over 150 Dinamo Zagreb hooligans crossed hundreds of thousands of kilometers from Croatia to Athens unmolested. Videos showing Croats entering the electric railway carrying clubs and other objects and wearing hoods confirm that Dinamo Zagreb’s far-right fans, the ‘Bad Blue Boys’ as they are called, came determined and undeterrable.
07.08.2023, AEK Athens🇬🇷 vs BBB (Dinamo Zagreb🇭🇷), AEK run https://t.co/Fjy3xrlEmQ pic.twitter.com/GFU1DwWCj7
— Hooligans.cz Official (@hooliganscz1999) August 7, 2023
The fact that the Greek authorities had been informed for at least three days about the convoy of 150-200 Croatian hooligans, highlights the huge mistakes of the Greek police services, which led to the sacking of officers with the competent minister Giannis Economou speaking of a “tragic failure” and of unprecedented operational errors, renouncing the political responsibilities attributed to the government and bypassing the Opposition’s demand for his resignation.
Operationally speaking, there were three critical points in time for which police is being admonished: the entry of the Croats into Greece, their route to Athens and their meeting with their Greek accomplices, which ended with the march to the stadium of Nea Philadelphia and their attack on AEK fans, but also on unsuspecting citizens.
Videos and testimonies from the murderous attack describe a landscape of chaos, terror and panic. Hooligans broke everything in their wake, set fires and even beat children indiscriminately. According to information, among those injured in the incidents was a minor girl who was injured in the head by a stone.
They cleaned up the crime scene and then investigated it
In the meantime, the complaint of the well-known photojournalist Yiannis Kemmos that the officers of the Hellenic Police investigated the scene of the crime in Nea Philadelphia after the Municipality’s crews had first… cleaned the area with a pressure hose is causing a sensation.
According to the complaint, there are photos he and colleagues tookfour and a half hours apart and show that the security officers went to the scene of the 29-year-old’s murder, after the crews of the Municipality of Nea Philadelphia had cleaned the scene.
DNA will “point” to the perpetrator
The perpetrator of the murder of 29-year-old Michalis Katsouris has not yet been identified, with sources from the Police and the Ministry of Citizen Protection however claiming that he is among those arrested. The findings are being taken to forensic laboratories in order to have DNA taken, as well as the victim, according to information, genetic material of the culprit was found.
In addition, the audio-visual material that will be gathered from the security cameras of shops and the stadium is also considered crucial for the identification of the perpetrator, with the investigation being undertaken by officers of the sub-directorate dealing with sports violence.
The material that will be gathered from the cameras along the national roads, which have captured the journey of the Croats, is also evaluated as important.
In the meantime, “unofficial” information that the killer of 29-year-old Michalis may be Greek is being broadcast by the Croatian media.
Fears for the match between Panathinaikos and Marseille
The police authorities are on their feet ahead of the Panathinaikos – Marseille match, as there are reports that organized hooligan fans of Marseille, Italian Livorno and Hamburg St. Pauli will try to cross into Greece, in an unprecedented form of retaliation for the incidents in Nea Philadelphia.
In this context, according to ERT, there is an expert regional planning of the Hellenic Police, while platoons from the region have also been recruited.
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