PASOK: PM announced measures ‘already foreseen’ after Kampanos murder
Socialist opposition party PASOK said many of the measures announced by the prime minister on Wednesday to curb hooligan-related violence in Greece are “already foreseen” in the reform package agreed on after the killing of a soccer fan by hooligans in February 2022.
“The prime minister unfortunately confirmed the usual practice of either passing laws that are not implemented or making announcements that are uncertain as to whether they are applicable, since several of the measures announced today were already foreseen in the legislative framework that emerged after the death of Alkis Kampanos,” PASOK said in a press release, referring to the 19-year-old who was beaten and stabbed to death by hooligans supporting the opposing team in Thessaloniki in 2022.
The statement followed a meeting and joint press conference of Mitsotakis and UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin in Athens, where the premier announced that the associations of organized team supporters will close and only one official association will remain open for each team and operate at each soccer club’s headquarters.
It came after the death of a 29-year-old Michalis Katsouris, an AEK Athens supporter who was stabbed when scores of Croatian hooligans wielding wooden clubs and metal bats attacked bystanders outside AEK’s Opap Arena last Monday.
PASOK accused Mitsotakis of keeping silent for days after the murder of Katsouris and “pretending that he took over power just yesterday.”
The party also said that that there should be a lifetime ban from entry to stadiums for those involved in violent incidents inside or outside sports venues, with the responsibility of soccer clubs and the police.
