Seventeen high school students were brought to the Prosecutors’ office in Thessaloniki on Thursday, a day after a school championship match in Triandria turned into a battle field. The arrested are aged 16-19 with ten of them to be minors.
According to local media, a group of non-students stormed in in the football stadium during the match between students of the 16th General Lyceum of Thessaloniki and the 1st Professional Lyceum of Kalamaria.
Some of the attackers were reportedly wearing hoods and helmets and were holding wood sticks and crowbars.
It lasted minutes until a confrontation between the students and the attackers broke out, involving some 50 people in total.
During the clashes some ripped out woods pieces from the benches and used them as “weapons” while they set a trash bucket on fire.
Two people were injured during the clashes.
Strong police forces were deployed in the Sports facility and started to detain people. After their examination by the Police Department against Sports Violence in Thessaloniki, the detentions were turned into arrests.
The Public Prosecutor decided to be released them ordering a preliminary investigation in order to find out what kind of offense each one of the students has committed and under which circumstances the incidents occurred.
The lawyer of the young arrestees said he was waiting for the case file and stressed that the the parents were in difficult situation.
The case file was lacking the report about the injuries.
Teachers, sports officials and other eyewitnesses speak of “unprecedented violence” in school championship underlining that it was an “isolated incident.”
The attack took place at the end of the match that stood 1-1.
State broadcaster ERT reported that the attackers were some 100 people.
The two schools have been expelled from the school championship for two years.
It looks as if it has been the first time that such violent incidents occur during a school soccer match but nevertheless it occurs during a big debate in Greece about violence in sports.
the incident occurred three days after PAOK owner stormed the pitch with a gun fastened at his belt during the PAOK-AEK derby on Sunday.
