“Injustice against Olympiacos and stopping the tournament is better.”

Liannis Morales expressed his strong objections to the measures taken by the government to deal with fan violence on Channel One 90.4.

Speaking to the “Morning Information” program by Simos Pimanidis and Giorgos Sarandakos, the Mayor of Piraeus stressed that those who make decisions have no knowledge of sports violence issues, while asking why Mr. Okonomou and Vroutsis did not bring the names of 200 rioters to justice earlier, before the new sad event that led to the injury of the policeman who he hoped would win for him in the battle he was waging for his life.

“Governments have always lacked the knowledge to deal with the phenomenon of fan violence, have not studied the issue and taken some impressive measures when we have someone dead or injured, which in most cases are not even implemented.” Yannis Morales confirmed and added: “They should invite people who have attended UEFA seminars and who know what measures other countries are taking on this matter. Who said there are no police in England, Germany and other countries? Is it the same legal framework? Security companies have the same responsibilities? We have the same framework “legal”. Same facilities, same legal framework, ridiculous comparisons.

Obviously it’s not the same. Treatment is not easy and requires long-term planning, seriousness and consistency.
Police say: We don’t want to conduct a body search, but security companies do not have the training and ability to conduct a body search of people who refuse or have aggressive behavior, nor do they have the ability to make arrests.

In the stadiums outside, there are two fences in front of the entrance, where specific checks are carried out, and especially in the first, the police are present with large forces. This does not exist in Greece. We have violence throughout society and they are taking admirable action with long-standing statements that have not been implemented. “The important point is to deal with this issue fundamentally.”

Regarding the fact that the match against Batska Topola will be held behind closed doors, Giannis Morales spoke about the injustice suffered by Olympiacos and the entire city: “It is ironic that on Tuesday we played volleyball with people, today we will play football the European decisive match with 10 people, while tomorrow in SEF we will play a European basketball match with 120,000 people. What is the logic of this matter? Why doesn’t Olympiacos play with players like the teams Other Greek?

Don’t Olympiacos’ friends and the entire city challenge this? Aren’t Karaiskaki Stadium and AEK Stadium some of the newest stadiums? The ten people who will enter the field today do not cover the needs of the PAE Board of Directors. Not even I, as mayor and vice president of Olympiacos, can go to the stadium at night.”

Mr. Morales continued: “In Karaiskakis, we organized the European Super Cup final and received congratulations. There is social violence, as we often see in universities. What should we do? Should we close universities too? How can there be collective solidarity? Responsibility?”

If there are incidents at the Polytechnic, will we take them all to court, and perhaps find the culprits, or close the Polytechnic as well? 200 names of powerful troublemakers have been given correctly so that they can be identified in different situations. But did we find these 200 names on Saturday? Why weren’t they given a heads up sooner so they could be caught and possibly punished?

Here we do not even have horizontal measures that are supposedly unfair. We have selective measures at two levels.
Different treatment for each sport but also different treatment for each team.”

The Mayor of Piraeus described the recovery of the 31-year-old policeman’s health as a major issue, wishing him “a victory in the difficult battle for life”, and was clear about the position that Piraeus’ representatives in Parliament should take regarding the injustice suffered by Olympiacos and its fans, emphasizing… that “We cannot remain silent in Piraeus. As for the Ministry of Citizen Protection, I repeat that its decisions were blatantly wrong, because the procedures should have been better thought out and the least that should have been guaranteed is justice and equality.”

In conclusion, Yannis Morales confirmed that he would do it himself “What they decided in Turkey, where the league was suspended on an equal basis and not behind closed doors. During this period we must discuss and conduct serious consultations and then move forward.”