Parliament deputies from the country’s three main three political parties, including the ruling party, on Friday sternly condemned Aris FC owner Theodoros Karypidis over his threats towards the government to unleash hooligan violence during the inauguration of the new Thessaloniki Metro system on Saturday.
Theodoros Karypidis is accused of threatening the government and ministers with hooligan violence at the new long-awaited Thessaloniki metro, with Deputy Transport and Infrastructure Minister Nikos Tachiaos, himself a Thessaloniki native, on Thursday meeting with the head of the Thessaloniki appellate prosecutor’s office, Nikolaos Kallidis, to brief him over the risk of criminal acts being committed during the inauguration of the new metro system’s operation.
‘The justice system will set things right’
Speaking to Mega Channel on Friday, Yannis Economou, a New Democracy (ND) party deputy elected from south-central Fthiotida prefecture, stressed that “the Greek state cannot be threatened nor blackmailed”.
“… understand that such threats cannot be tolerated in any way. This matter will take the course that’s required. The important thing is that Thessaloniki will have a safe metro as of Saturday; a stunning project that the people of Thessaloniki have been waiting for many years – and which will be inaugurated by Mr. (Kyriakos) Mitsotakis (the prime minister) tomorrow. The justice system will set things right. I cannot fathom the notion that any citizen would do such a thing, and in collusion with a group of people, while on the other hand, the government and the Greek state cannot be blackmailed in any way and will not succumb to such threats,” he said.
‘All law enforcement procedures must commence over this incident’
On his part, PASOK-KINAL deputy Manolis Christodoulakis, who is elected from the district of eastern Attica prefecture, said that “in terms of the threat itself, I think it’s self-evident when we talk about an upsurge of violence, and when we try to cope with such issues across-the-board and in a bipartisan manner. It goes without saying that when a football club executive makes such threats, as Mr. Tachiaos said, that all law enforcement procedures must commence over this incident.”
Christodoulakis added that “especially when this incitement to violence concerns Aris, which recently paid a price, in blood, with the murder of a young man. Let’s not forget these things and not level-off everything. And the second thing is this: There was a threat that suddenly, miraculously, the penalty was miraculously erased. There’s a contradiction in these incidents. The justice system is obliged to detach itself from such threats and compromises.”
Finally, SYRIZA party central committee member Giorgos Vassiliadis underlined that “…we have, first of all, a threat. We have to see who made the threats, and legal procedures must be initiated. Instead of initiating proceedings, the penalty is erased, revealing the ridiculous environment in which the (pro) football sector exists for many years, and with the responsibility of all of us. This reveals the overall problems plaguing Greek society and the state. The metro system is the property of the people of Thessaloniki, it took 50 years to build and had become a joke of sorts”.
