Football hooliganism

A prosecutor has opened an investigation into high-ranking police officers for failing to prevent the arrival and actions of Croatian hooligans that resulted in the murder of a Greek soccer fan.

U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday vowed "swift criminal sanctions" following an emergency meeting on the far-right riots that have broken out across England over the murder of three children.

As part of a "number of actions" to come out of the meeting, the government will "ramp up criminal justice" to ensure that "criminal sanctions are swift", Starmer told the media.

Members of a criminal gang comprising almost 160 football hooligans were involved in the fatal injury of police officer Giorgos Lyngeridis during fan riots in Athens in December, the country's police chief has said.

A common strand of failure runs through our disasters - at the crucial moment, we were either unprepared or indifferent to what might happen.

Greece will allow its top league soccer matches to be played with fans from February 13, two months after top clubs were ordered to play behind closed doors following the severe injuring of a police officer in violence during a volleyball match.

A report submitted by Citizen Protection Minister Giannis Oikonomou to the Supreme Court prosecutor's office last week details the criminal activities of many well-known soccer hooligans and the connections, at least of some of them, to political extremism on the left and right.

Despite the strict sentences and the announcements, nothing has changed when it comes to the world of hooligans after the serious injury of a riot police officer who was struck in the leg by a naval flare on Thursday during a volleyball match between crosstown rivals Olympiakos and Panathinaikos. 

Police have arrested a man, an AEK fan, and are continuing to investigate his possible involvement in the stabbing of football fan Michalis Katsouris in August.

Katsouris, 29, was fatally stabbed by unknown persons during a clash between rival football hooligans.

Two of the parties involved in football violence that took place on Wednesday night in the area of Souroti near Thessaloniki have been arrested.

The two defendants, aged 17, were accused of violent crimes instigated by sports events, bodily harm, and attempted assault.

UEFA president Alexander Ceferin urged Europe on Wednesday to help eliminate hooliganism, which he called "the cancer of football", days after a man was killed in clashes before a match between AEK Athens and Dinamo Zagreb in Greece.