The descriptions of the two friends of Alkis Kabanos who were attacked by the group of hooligans are shocking.
In the statements given to the police by the two children and revealed by protothema.gr, they describe the nightmarish scene.
"I am studying at the school of tourism professions. I live with my parents and my younger brother. On Monday 31 January around seven thirty to eight o'clock I went to the Harilaou area to meet my friends. There I found Dimitri with whom we hang out, his brother Spyros, Alkis and another kid whose name I don't remember. I met them at the Ares park and then we took a walk by the Ares link. Then we went back to the Aris park where we sat for quite a while and around 11:40 me and Alkis went on the motorbike to drop them off there and we all walked with the rest of the group. I and Alkis and I took an energy drink to drink half of it.
From Papanastasiou we turned right to Plastira and from there right again to Gazi street. A few meters further on, we found some stairs. About half an hour to an hour later I suddenly saw three people coming towards us from Plastira Street, the first of whom asked us "what group are you". At the same time, four other people came from the opposite side and practically surrounded us. As far as I remember I replied that we were Ares and at the same time these people started hitting us. He asked what team we were, I don't remember if he had something in his hands, but I do remember that one of the other two who were with him had a knife in his hands.
Of the foursome that came towards us from the east side of Gazi Street, from Seferi Street that is, towards us, I remember that one of them was holding a scythe in his hands about 30 to 40 cm long, while another was holding a knife in his hands. I at that moment immediately grabbed my helmet and put it in front of my chest to protect myself. The one with the knife who came from Seferi went up the stairs and came towards me and I hit him once in the head with my helmet. I hit him in the forehead, I don't know if he bled because he was wearing a hood. As soon as I hit him he took a step backwards but then immediately lunged at me again. My helmet came off my hands but I don't remember exactly how.
He put my hands at the height of my two sides to protect myself and he started stabbing me in the legs with the knife. Specifically, he stabbed me three times in my left leg. At the same time he punched me in the head and a second person. At that time I heard Alki screaming help, I can't, it hurts. I turned around and saw him lying on the pavement and four people on top of him beating him. I tried to jump down the steps onto Alki to save him from the blows by protecting him with my body, but three people held me down and that's where I took a bat to the head and almost passed out. Then he stabbed me again with the knife in my right leg this time.
I fell down the stairs next to Alkis and they ran away towards Plastira Street. I tried to pick up Alki. He managed to stand on his feet for a while and I tried to talk to him but he was not communicating. There was too much blood coming from his leg. I was also covered in blood everywhere, blood was running from my head, from my legs and I had Alki's blood all over me. I took my mobile phone and called my father and told him to come straight away because something serious had happened and neither Alki nor I was okay. Shortly afterwards the police came.
The policemen tried to help Alkis and stop the bleeding from his leg. After some time, about half an hour, two ambulances arrived. They picked us up and took us to Papanicolaou. Me for the legs in the places where I received the stab wounds. I haven't seen Alkis at all since then, I haven't heard anything from anyone about his health but I am very worried because when the ambulance arrived, I believe he had already lost his breath. At the hospital I met Dimitri and then I learned that he too had been stabbed. Spyros and the kid whose name I don't know ran away and managed to escape, I don't know which way they went. The whole attack lasted about two to three minutes."
Question: Can you describe the people who attacked you?
Response: I saw a total of seven to eight people. They were all dressed in black with hoods, necks and caps. I am not in a position to know any of them. Even the one who was stabbing me, I could not hold anything back because I could only see his eyes which were brown or black. As I told you it all happened very quickly and it was a first for me. However, they all seemed quite fit and experienced in trouble, unlike us who have never been in a fight.
Question: You recognize the subject. The police officer pointed to the young Albanian arrestee.
Response: I have never seen him before in my life. I am not in a position to know any of the people who attacked us. Only the one who initially asked us what group are you? I remember he had a heavy voice and I might be able to understand the voice if I heard him. I'm sure the motive for the attack on us is fan motivated. We are not organized, however, nor have we ever gotten into any trouble. We go to the link sometimes for a walk. That night, me and Alkis had a beer each. None of the rest of our group had had any alcohol. There had been no prior trouble with anyone, nor was there a reason for all that had happened to us. We were attacked completely casually yet simply because we were sitting near the Aris stadium and we are fans of this team."
The second one states that
"I am a student and I live with my parents. On Monday afternoon I went to my school because I had an exam. I finished the exams and a fellow student gave me a ride and dropped me off in the Harilaou area. I went to the park of Aris, next to the stadium where I found my friends, my brother Spyros, Alkis and Niko and Angelos. My brother and Niko and I see each other almost every day while Angelos and Alkis and I hang out together but we are not best friends. Generally I hang out there in the afternoons, in the Harilaos area, with my friends. At the Aris park we sat for about 1 hour and then we went to the Aris link. At the link we stayed for an hour or so and then we went back to the park again. The time was about 10 o'clock. We sat in the park for about an hour and a half and around eleven thirty. We went to a creperie.
After a while the others came and we decided to go for a walk uphill. From Papanastasiou, I went up with Nikolaos Plastira and at the first intersection we turned right onto Gazi Street. A few meters down were some steps of an apartment building and we sat there for our friends to drink some energy drinks they had taken earlier. We sat on the steps and talked about various topics, mainly about our exams. Around 12:30 as I estimated there would suddenly be a group of 10 to 15 people coming towards us from the side of Nikolaos Plastira. When I noticed it, the first of this group was about 2m away from me. Others were behind him. The first one was holding a sickle in his hands. Its handle I remember was black, its body metallic red in colour and about 30 cm long. Behind him I saw another person holding in his hands a knife with a straight blade about 15 cm long and another person holding a light brown wooden club about 50 cm long.
The first person I told you about, the one with the scythe turned around and asked us what team are you? I blushed as did my friends and we didn't answer anything. Immediately afterwards they all rushed at us together. We tried to run to get away. Some of us made it but some of us didn't. I ran to the opposite side from the one they attacked us. As I turned my back, I felt a blow to my left buttock. I thought it was a bat. I ran to the building next door where there was a pilot rail. I jumped over it and got into the cockpit. By the time I jumped the railing, I saw that about six or seven people from the group that attacked us were on the steps beating Angelo and Alkis. In particular, I saw that at that moment about four people were simultaneously hitting Alkis and two were hitting Angelos. I think that among the four who were beating Alkis, I saw the one with the scythe, but I am not sure. I also saw about three or four people from this group, going back towards Plastira Street and heading towards two cars that were stopped right on the intersection of Gazi and Plastira.
One car was white and the other black. The white car had the left side door open behind the driver. I didn't see anyone get into these cars but I'm sure they were headed towards them. The white car I remember was a cutout in the back, four door, as I told you the door behind the driver was open, but I didn't get a chance to see what make it was. As for the black car, apart from the colour, I can't remember anything else about it. So after I got into the gate, I ran to the back and from the grassy area I jumped over another fence, got out into another gate and from there to Papanastasiou Street. On Papanastasiou, I first moved towards Plastira, to see if I could see what happened to my friends. Arriving at Papanastasiou Street and Plastira Street, I saw that the cars of the perpetrators were still there.
Some people were still inside and shouting let's go go go. Seconds later, three or four people got into the cars and left. Both vehicles, I saw them I saw them start down Plastira towards Papanastasiou. I think the black car was in front and the white vehicle was behind it. Also at that time about five people were going that way to repel the attack. The black car caught up and drove off, while the white car made some maneuvers on Plastira. Someone even I remember threw a chair at it which hit the car, but I don't remember exactly where on the vehicle. When the cars approached the intersection I was at, I turned my back and headed east. I then realized that I had blood on my left buttock and realized that the blow I felt was from the scythe and not the bat. Up on Papanastasiou I met a friend of mine. We turned left on the first street we found and walked uphill. I saw a black jumpsuit next to some dumpsters and sat down at the entrance of an apartment building where I put it on my leg to stop the bleeding.
I randomly met a kid I only know physiognomically and asked him to go to the scene of the attack and bring me my cell phone because I had left it on the steps when we were attacked. This child went and brought me and I found that the screen of my phone was broken. I then walked upstairs with my friend until I came across an ambulance and stopped it to tell them what happened to me. I got into the ambulance and they took me to the hospital where they put me in surgery and stitched up my left buttock. Inside the ambulance I found out that the attack killed Alkis. Then in the hospital I learned that Angelos had been stabbed as well. For my brother Spyro and Nikos I don't know how I managed to escape the attack."
Question: Can you describe the characteristics of the people who attacked you?
Answer: I only remember the characteristics of the one who I told you was leading the way and holding the scythe. This one wore a black neck brace, black raised up to the height of his nose. He was about 21 years of age, about 175 180 cm tall and a little overweight. He had auburn hair very short on the side and much longer on the top of his head. He was the only one who was not wearing a hood on his head and that is why I could make out his features.
Question. Police officer points to the Albanian arrestee.
Response: He looks a lot like the one holding the scythe. I resemble him about 60%. His hair, forehead and face shape are the same, as is his body type. If I see him in person and hear his voice I believe I am in a position to know him without reservation.
Question: Since the afternoon you met with your friends, have you consumed any alcohol?
Answer:Spyros and a friend of ours had not drunk any alcohol. Alkis and Angelos I think had a beer each. I mean Alkis was the one who came to the stadium the least of all of us. We never got into fights and fusses, we never gave anyone the slightest excuse. There was nothing that preceded it to justify what happened."
Source: Proto Thema
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