Lyggeridis murder: The hours before the tragedy – What happened inside and outside “Melina Merkouri”

STAR brings to light new revealing documents from the night of the events in Rentis and the murderous attack on the police officer Giorgos Lyggeridis.

For the first time images from the incidents and from inside the stadium shortly before the attack. The statements, especially from the 16-year-old brother of the remanded youth, gave authorities clues about what happened on the fateful night.

The Chronicles

It was 19:21 on December 7th. In the video, the convoy of cars and motorcycles with the “war weapons” can be seen heading towards the Melina Merkouri stadium. They unloaded flares and molotov cocktails and then entered the field. They sat on the horseshoe.

The images were captured by an unknown man, who then handed the stick over to the authorities. These are the 15 videos that freed the hands of the police as they helped them to identify persons, mainly the leading executives.

In these videos – two people – are the ones who give the order for young people with their faces covered to come out and attack the police officers. From 21:15 and for the next few minutes, 200 to 250 people gradually leave the stadium and gather in the street, setting fires in bins. It is the moment when they first throw Molotov cocktails at the police.

Another video from a security camera in the area shows more than five Molotov cocktails being thrown in just a few minutes. The time is 21:45.

The scene resembles a battlefield and accused persons are running to avoid arrest. They are provocative in their dialogues with each other.

Tragedy is written right after. The naval flare succeeds Giorgos Lyggeridis.

Insults to the memory of Lyggeridis

One of the arrested, the 16-year-old brother of the young man who is already in custody, described to the police what happened that night.

“A person with a full face came and asked me if I had ever given fingerprints. I told him I hadn’t and then he gave me a navy flare and told me to throw it in the trash or down the drain. I then throw it into a field in front of me and then a third person wearing black clothes, about 1.60, says to me “what are you throwing?” and the person who gave it to me told him ‘the lever is broken it won’t go away,'” the 16-year-old said.

The 16-year-old accused was clear to the authorities. There were young men that night who changed their clothes so as not to be betrayed.

“When we were on the field a guy about 1.75 tall blond and thin came and told me to take off my sweatshirt. I refused him and then he says “take it out because I will break your teeth”. When we found out that we would be arrested, many people took off their clothes and some set them on fire in the toilets,” added the 16-year-old.