Quite frequently, Omonia supporters have been seen waving flags with the sickle and hammer, banners with Che Guevara and other symbols of left-wing characteristics. Most recently, on 28 November, during a football match with Legia Warsaw for the UEFA Conference League in Nicosia, Omonia fans did it again!
This time, they displayed a huge banner with the inscription: "17/1/1945 The Red Army Liberated Warsaw".
The historical truth expressed in Omonia fans' banner created frustration among Polish nationalists. The reference to the liberation of Warsaw by the Soviets provoked the anti-communist reflexes in Poland, a country that is at the forefront of the EU's anti-communist campaign during the last decades. Warsaw's mayor demanded an... apology from the Cypriot club, while Legia's officials submitted a complaint to Uefa! Even the Polish Embassy in Nicosia managed to intervene in the matter.
The football match ended 0-3 in favor of Legia, but Omonia fans deserve our congratulations and respect for speaking out the truth, without fear or reservations.
P.S: Legia Warsaw fans are notorious for their ultra-right, nationalist and strongly anti-communist sentiments. Last July, their racist supporters displayed a banner sarcastically declaring “Refugees Welcome” below an image of two men holding a baseball bat and a hammer alongside a crucifix-wearing woman with a pig’s head on a plate. During the match, Legia fans sung an anti-refugee chant. The banner was sharply criticized by the U.N. Refugee Agency in Poland.
