MUNICIPALITY OF THESSALONIKI

The Sports Friendship Park – K. Zervas was given to the citizens of Thessaloniki: “United as a society we leave fan violence behind us for good”

Three olive trees at the age of Alkis, Toskos and Nassos now stand in the green space at the junction of Kleanthous and Papanastasiou Street. This area was inaugurated on (01/03) at noon by the Mayor of Thessaloniki Konstantinos Zervas as a park of sports friendship, in the presence of veteran football players and children from the academies of the three teams of Thessaloniki, Aris, Hercules and PAOK.
“We are at a geographical crossroads. Where Kleanthous Street and Papanastasiou Street intersect. Two central streets, leading to the stadiums of two major teams of our city. We are also at a temporal crossroads. At a point where we unitedly decide to leave fan violence behind us for good. From today, three olive trees, three century-old trees, each with the age of the child lost – for Alkis, Toskos and Nassos – will always be here, to remind us how unjustly these children left”, said the Mayor of Thessaloniki Konstantinos Zervas in a statement: “As the society of Thessaloniki, united, we show our determination to stop these phenomena. We are determined to show our determination to give the city, our country and the world only joy through sport.
“In our city there must be unity, peace, love. It is absurd to mourn so many dead,” said Aris veteran Yannis Venos, while Hercules veteran Kostas Aidiniou congratulated the mayor for the initiative and said that “we need to find a Thatcher to clean up the situation.” For his part, PAOK veteran George Koudas commented: “If we don’t uproot the nettles and thistles, we will never rest. Peace, because otherwise we will not move forward.