'Use of force the only option'.

Byline: Charles Charalambous

USING FORCE is the only way to deal with football hooligans since preventative measures are clearly not working, Justice Minister Loucas Louca warned yesterday as the Cyprus Football Federation (CFF) met late into the night to discuss possible game suspensions.

Among other things, the CFF were also discussing a police proposal to ban away fans from travelling to matches deemed to be high-risk, something that is unlikely to be agreed to by some clubs. At the time of going to press, the meeting was still ongoing.

Earlier Minister Louca said the critical injury of a 20-year-old APOEL fan on Sunday was only the "tip of the iceberg" in terms of football-related violence.

Speaking to reporters after meeting the presidents of APOEL and Omonia football clubs, Louca said that the current police action-plan based on a preventive approach to the problem was "erroneous". "It has not produced the results we expected," he said

"For this reason we have decided that henceforth the police's role will be to suppress this phenomenon," he added.

The minister said "whatever is needed" to combat the problem will be provided in terms of appropriate equipment and police manpower, and that the focus would be on identifying the few "particular fans responsible for the particular incidents".

He added that police would also be allowed "to use appropriate force" to arrest "whoever resists arrest or does not obey instructions".

The Justice Minister's statements formed part of the continuing public reaction yesterday to Sunday's violence between APOEL and Omonia football fans which took place far from any football match and left a 20-year-old APOEL fan in a critical condition in Nicosia General Hospital. Last night, the man was still on a ventilator in the Intensive Care Unit.

Speaking to the press after appearing before the House Education Committee, Cyprus Sports Organisation (KOA) President Nicos Kartakoulis said: "There is one reason and one alone why we are unable to confront violence at football grounds: there is no honesty, there is no honest mindset, there is no will on all sides to face up to the problem". He added that if the problem was not dealt with honestly, "in two, three or five years' time we'll be here again, talking about the same thing."

DISY MP and Committee chairman Nicos Tornaritis said that other countries which had taken action in good time were successful in dealing with the problem, proving that "a cure exists".

"In Cyprus the question of how we will put an end to this senselessness violence at football grounds has been discussed many times, taking advantage of experience from abroad," he said.

"Every time incidents occur we express our regret, we hold meetings and make announcements, until the next time." Tornaritis said the state, the clubs, the CFF and the media had responsibilities, they must assume rather than "continuing to hide behind verbal condemnations and announcements."

APOEL President Phivos Erotokritou said his club would do "whatever it can with whatever means at its disposal to overcome the gangrene that bears the name of hooliganism".

Omonia President Miltiades Neofytou said he agreed with the statements made by both Erotokritou and Louca, adding: "We don't want that kind of people at the football stadiums".

The board of Nea Salamina -- the other club involved in Sunday's match with APOEL which was abandoned following crowd violence -- announced yesterday that it was prepared to put fans who participated in Sunday's violence on a "wanted" list and offer a reward for their identification, with a view to taking legal action. It also announced that it was closing down indefinitely the eastern section of the main stand at the club's Amochostos Stadium, where the organised fans usually gather, and that it is forming a stewarding team to patrol the stadium during matches.

Police spokesman Michalis Katsounotos said police have taken additional measures outside football clubhouses to prevent a recurrence of the violence, and were continuing with their "sweeping" enquiries as part of the search for four men for whom an arrest warrant has already been issued. Three men are already in police custody, and Katsounotos did not rule out further warrants being issued.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2009

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