Panathinaikos fans protest at prime minister's home

Some 2,000 Panathinaikos fans protested outside the home of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras Wednesday angry at the leftist government's punishment of their club. Riot-police used tear gas to disperse the crowd and media reports said some supporters were detained. The fans arrived outside the home of Tsipras in the Kypseli district of Athens with hundreds of motorcycles shortly after their team drew 0-0 with Atromitos in a Greek Cup home match. The prime minister was not at home as he was away on an official visit to Israel. Earlier on Wednesday the club found a novel way to protest against the closing of part of their stadium for the rest of the season due to November's derby crowd trouble. The Greek giants placed hundreds of green and white balloons where fans would have been seated for the match with Atromitos. Also the club renamed all 11 entrances to their Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium as Gates 13. Last week Greek deputy sports minister Stavros Kontonis told the club to shut Gates 13 and 14 used by hard-core fans. Panathinaikos found themselves in the dock after trouble forced the November 21 derby with Olympiakos to be called off before kick-off. They were fined an additional 90,000 euros ($100,000) on top of a previous fine of 190,000 euros, deducted three points and forced to play four home games behind closed doors. Match referee Andreas Pappas called off the high-risk game after fans clashed with police both inside and outside the stadium. Police said 14 arrests were made and that three officers were injured, one seriously. Fans threw rocks and other debris at police, who responded with tear gas. Flares were thrown at Olympiakos players when they appeared for their warm-up on the pitch. Olympiakos vice-president Savvas Theodoridis said flares struck their forward Alfred Finnbogason, "burning" the Iceland international’s hand, and Serbian midfielder Luka Milivojevic. Established in 1908, Panathinaikos is one of the most successful teams in the country having won 20 Greek league titles, 18 Greek Cups and eight doubles. The Athens team managed to reach the European Cup final in 1971 where they lost to Ajax and reached the semi-finals twice in 1985 and 1996.