Economou on Nea Philadelphia clashes: There was a 'tragic failure of prevention'

There was a "tragic failure of prevention" that allowed the DNK Dinamo Zagreb supporters to reach Athens and led to the murder of a 29-year-old AEK Athens fan, Citizen Protection Minister Yiannis Economou said on Alpha television on Tuesday night.

In response to calls for his resignation from the opposition parties, he said that this would be the "easy way out" in order to avoid political and party criticism.

"I would have no qualms about resigning - though I have only been on the job for 10 days - if the issue were related to political planning. The citizen protection minister is not a police officer, to put together plans for dealing with hooligans or to point out the obvious, namely that they cannot cross half of Greece without being stopped," he said.

"I am aware of and assume my responsibilities, for as long as the prime minister trusts me in this position, so we can work hard with the officers, with the Greek police to change all that does not work properly," he added.

According to the minister, grave mistakes were made and the information available had not been properly used, allowing the Croatian team supporters to pass through Montenegro, Albania, Epirus, Western Greece, the Peloponnese and the Athens-Corinth national highway and reach the vicinity of the AEK Athens stadium where the clashes occurred, without being stopped by anyone.

"That is unacceptable, inexcusable," he noted, adding that those responsible will all be held to account and that the matter will not end with the seven senior police officers already axed, as a sworn international inquiry was now underway.

He noted that the events had shown two different, contrasting, faces of the Hellenic Police, who had shown efficiency as regards arresting the culprits - including a group at the Evzones border crossing that almost certainly included the person who murdered the AEK fan - but at the same time had failed tragically in deterrence and prevention.