NEWS

Probe ordered into offensive soccer banner

Probe ordered into offensive soccer banner

A Thessaloniki prosecutor has ordered an investigation after fans of local soccer club PAOK suspended a banner during a game on Thursday that appears to have been expressing solidarity with the suspected murders of 19-year-old Alkis Kambanos in the northern port city earlier this month.

Suspended from a railing at PAOK’s home turf in the district of Toumba during a Europa Conference League match against Denmark’s Midtjylland, the banner read “Brothers hang in there.” 

It is seen as a reference to 12 PAOK supporters who are believed to have carried out a vicious and unprovoked attack on Kambanos and a group of his friends because they were supporters of rival club Aris. Kambanos was severely beaten and stabbed with a scythe-like knife in the attack, causing him to bleed to death.

The probe ordered on Friday is expected to ascertain who is responsible for hanging the banner and whether there are grounds for them to be prosecuted for inciting violence.

 

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