Mihalis Filopoulos ( el, Μιχάλης Φιλόπουλος; 1985–2007) was a 22-year-old

Panathinaikos Panathinaikos Athlitikos Omilos ( el, Παναθηναϊκός Αθλητικός Όμιλος, literally in English: "Panathenaic Athletic Club" or Panathinaikos A.C.), also known simply as Panathinaikós , is a major Greek multi-sport club ba ...

fan who was stabbed to death on March 29, 2007 at

Paiania Paiania (or ''Paeanea'' or ''Peania'' el, Παιανία, , before 1915: Λιόπεσι - ''Liopesi'', ; Arvanitika: Λοπε̱σ romanized: Lopës) is a town and a municipality in East Attica, Greece. It is an eastern suburb of Athens, located e ...

, a town near

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

, during a pre-arranged clash with rival

hooligans Hooliganism is disruptive or unlawful behavior such as rioting, bullying and vandalism, usually in connection with crowds at sporting events. Etymology There are several theories regarding the origin of the word ''hooliganism,'' which is a ...

of Olympiakos. His death caused major upset in Greece and sparked a large

police The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and t ...

investigation into the organised supporters scene.

Previous days

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

game between Panathinaikos' and Olympiakos' women teams was scheduled to take place on March 29, 2007 in

, for the Greek volleyball cup. Since this was a women's event, not much police force was assigned to it (usually men's games between the two teams are classed as very high risk). Therefore, hooligans from both sides sought the opportunity to organise a full-scale clash unobstructed by police. Indeed, news about the meeting in Paiania (later called "''rendezvous (ραντεβού) of death''" by the media) were circulating in supporters clubs and web sites and at least 400 people knew about it beforehand.

March 29. 2007

Olympiakos hooligans were initially gathered at

Peristeri Peristeri (Greek language, Greek: Περιστέρι, meaning "pigeon/dove" in Greek) is a suburban municipality in the western part of the Athens agglomeration, Greece. With 139,981 inhabitants (2011 census), it is the seventh-largest municipali ...

and Panathinaikos hooligans at

Halandri Chalandri ( el, Χαλάνδρι, Ancient Greek: Φλύα, ''Phlya'') is a suburb in the northern part of the Athens agglomeration, Greece. It is a municipality of the Attica region. Geography Chalandri is a suburb in Northern Athens, around fr ...

. From there, each formed motorcycle convoys to Paiania. The tensions were so high that a player of the local team Marko was stabbed by Olympiacos fans because he was seen in a car wearing his team colours, green, just because they were also Panathinaikos colours. Filopoulos was allegedly targeted for a previous incident involving hooligans from the two teams. He was stabbed by two different people and another four hit him with clubs on the head. The scene was filmed with a

mobile phone A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link whil ...

camera A camera is an Optics, optical instrument that can capture an image. Most cameras can capture 2D images, with some more advanced models being able to capture 3D images. At a basic level, most cameras consist of sealed boxes (the camera body), ...

, distributed to fans circles and even published on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

. Several media took hold of the video and kept showing it for days, even in

prime-time Prime time or the peak time is the block of broadcast programming taking place during the middle of the evening for a television show. It is mostly targeted towards adults (and sometimes families). It is used by the major television networks to ...

Investigation

A police raid took place immediately afterwards in many of the clubs of both teams and large quantities of weapons and drugs were seized, including

petrol bombs A Molotov cocktail (among several other names – ''see other names'') is a hand thrown incendiary weapon constructed from a frangible container filled with flammable substances equipped with a fuse (typically a glass bottle filled with fla ...

knives A knife ( : knives; from Old Norse 'knife, dirk') is a tool or weapon with a cutting edge or blade, usually attached to a handle or hilt. One of the earliest tools used by humanity, knives appeared at least 2.5 million years ago, as evidenced ...

baseball bats A baseball bat is a smooth wooden or metal club used in the sport of baseball to hit the ball after it is thrown by the pitcher. By regulation it may be no more than in diameter at the thickest part and no more than in length. Although histor ...

slingshot A slingshot is a small hand-powered projectile weapon. The classic form consists of a Y-shaped frame, with two natural rubber strips or tubes attached to the upper two ends. The other ends of the strips lead back to a pocket that holds the pro ...

s, metal

chain A chain is a serial assembly of connected pieces, called links, typically made of metal, with an overall character similar to that of a rope in that it is flexible and curved in compression but linear, rigid, and load-bearing in tension. A c ...

s and

flare gun A flare gun, also known as a Very pistol or signal pistol, is a large-bore handgun that discharges flares, blanks and smoke. The flare gun is typically used to produce a distress signal. Types The most common type of flare gun is a Very (som ...

s. Police managed to gather evidence for the participation of 28 people from both teams in the rendez-vous. Ιn May, nine people were charged with accessory to

homicide Homicide occurs when a person kills another person. A homicide requires only a volitional act or omission that causes the death of another, and thus a homicide may result from accidental, reckless, or negligent acts even if there is no inten ...

: Michalis Kountouris (a member of Olympiakos'

board of directors A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...

, member of Gate7, later became president of

Olympiacos CFP Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós ( el, Ολυμπιακός Σύνδεσμος Φιλάθλων Πειραιώς, Olympic Club of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number ...

), Michalis Bekakos (security in

Karaiskakis Stadium The Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium ( el, Στάδιο Γεώργιος Καραϊσκάκης), commonly referred to as the Karaiskakis Stadium ( el, Στάδιο Καραϊσκάκη, ), is a football stadium in Piraeus, Attica, Greece, and the ...

), Ioannis Andronikos (nicknamed "Charos"/"Death"), Tasos Poulos (nicknamed "Godzilla"), Vasilis Roubetis, Christos Sakatis, Vasilis Psykakos, Apostolos Korakis, Nikolas Vagiopoulos. 18 other people were charged for other reasons.

Aftermath

In the wake of Filopoulos' death, all team sport events in Greece were suspended from March 29 to April 12. Although people were always generally negative towards supporters' clubs, this was considered as the last straw. It was the first time something of this scale (over 500 people) and with such grave consequences had ever happened and calls for immediate investigation on clubs "private armies" were heard. Subsequently, the ministry of Sports, did indeed close all clubs and only allowed the reopening of some after rigorous id and background checks of its members. They also vowed to install surveillance cameras to all stadiums and enforce even harsher penalties.

Later developments

On 6 December 2007, it became known that legal discrepancies in the way suspects were examined by the police, rendered their statements invalid, even though some had confessed. This resulted in the case of manslaughter being put in the archives and legal proceedings to be filed only for minor charges. Two days later, after an

amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

match at

Lykovrysi Lykovrysi ( el, Λυκόβρυση; formerly Γλυκόβρυση ''Glykovrysi'') is in North Athens, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Lykovrysi-Pefki, of which it is a municipal unit/community. Geogra ...

between the home team and

Pangrati Pangrati or Pagrati ( el, Παγκράτι) is a neighborhood in Central Athens, Greece, having an estimated population of 35,173 residents. Named after the ancient sanctuary of Hercules Pancrates ("All Powerful"), its frontage runs from Vasil ...

, 20 persons wearing hoods, attacked with crowbars and

clubs Club may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Club'' (magazine) * Club, a ''Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' character * Clubs (suit), a suit of playing cards * Club music * "Club", by Kelsea Ballerini from the album ''kelsea'' Brands and enterprises ...

3 players of the away team, among them Nikos Stylianesis, who was one of those charged but later released for Filopoulos murder.

Notes and references