Clashes mar soccer match at Thessaloniki high school

Clashes broke out during a high school soccer tournament match in Triandria in Thessaloniki on Wednesday involving pupils and others in the stands, leading to 14 arrests and two injuries.

Local reports said clashes erupted between pupils from the 1st Technical High School in Kalamaria and the 16th High School of Thessaloniki after around 60-80 people – many of whom wore hoods while some were reportedly not school pupils – arrived at the stadium on motorcycles and climbed into the stands wielding sticks, belts and other objects.

At the time of the clashes there were around 200 school pupils in the stands.

Several seats in the stands were destroyed, while reports said some of the troublemakers were spotted brandishing iron bars.

The head of Triandria local authorities, Yiota Bahtsevana, told a local radio station that some of the rioters set several dumpsters outside the town’s stadium on fire.

“You don’t even get this level of violence in Exarchia [in Athens],” said the match doctor, who added that he saw one student clobber another over the head with a stick.

Both teams were disqualified from the tournament.