Authorities this week said DNA of another individual, identified as the younger brother of an 18-year-old already in custody, was found on a hand-held flare launcher allegedly used last week in the near-fatal attack against a riot police office.
According to an announcement issued by Greek police, the DNA belongs to a teen, 16, who was one of 424 people detained after the incident some 500 meters from a venue where a top-flight men’s volleyball game was taking place in the near-Piraeus district of Renti.
Additionally, authorities said the presence of gunpowder residue has also implicated another 26-year-old man in the violence that took place last week.
The teen had been summoned for additional testimony before an investigating magistrate on Thursday, where a prosecutor ordered the tacking of a DNA sample and fingerprints.
Other reports have police attempting to link even more suspects, among the 424 individuals detained for 24 hours last week, with objects found inside the indoor sports arena, where a Olympiacos Piraeus-Panathinaikos Athens match was taking place without incident.
Sources said more arrests on specific warrants are pending.
A 31-year-old police officer serving in the riot squad was severely injured last week when a highly incendiary flare lodged into his left thigh. His left leg was subsequently amputated, while he remains intubated in critical condition at the Nikaia State Hospital.
The 18-year-old reportedly confessed to firing the flare, which is similar to the type stored aboard vessels. In later statements to investigating magistrates and the prosecutor, he claimed he wasn’t sure the flare he fired was the one that hit the police officer. He also expressed remorse, said he was not aiming to hit anyone, and maintained he didn’t know the individual and individuals that called gave the signal for clashes with riot police, or the individual that handed him the flare gun and showed him how to use it.
The incident has also generated political fallout, with the Mitsotakis again promising a crackdown on hooligan-related violence, whereas the opposition charged that the government has essentially proved unable to prevent repeated instances of hooligan violence.
A local man, Michalis Katsouris, 29, was fatally stabbed early last August out of the AEK Athens football stadium during a rampage by more than 150 Dimano Zagreb “ultras”, while 19-year-old Alkis Kampanos was beaten and stabbed to death in February 2022 in the northern city of Thessaloniki by hooligans ostensibly affiliated with the local PAOK club.
