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| Monday, March 22, 2004 |
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| Rome riot may have been planned |
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ROME, March 22 (Reuters) - A hardcore of Lazio and AS Roma soccer fans may have worked together to start a riot which caused the Rome derby to be abandoned on Sunday, politicians said on Monday.
 | | With scenes like these perhaps it's best to stay at home. (NewPress/GettyImages) | |
Police arrested 18 supporters from both sides, some of them
known hooligans, after the hotly-anticipated match turned into a
six-hour pitched battle between police and fans that left more
than 170 people injured.
'It was pure guerrilla warfare,' one police official said.
Some politicians connected the violence with a controversial
proposal to pass a law that would help bail out Italy's
cash-strapped clubs by giving them tax breaks.
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, owner of AC Milan,
supports the law and a day before the violence said he feared
that 'revolution will explode' on the terraces if the government
does not step in to help the clubs' finances.
'It seems to me like an attempt to blackmail the government.
It was planned to place strong pressure at a time when the
government has to make an important decision,' said Welfare
Minister Roberto Maroni.
Lazio and Roma are at the centre of Italy's 'Save Soccer'
dispute, together shouldering around €200 million of debt, but still boasting some of the most
highly-paid players.
The violence erupted when the game was abandoned in the
second half after a false rumour circulated that a young boy had
been killed by a police car outside the Olympic Stadium.
Among those arrested were three 'ultras', Italy's hooligan
hardcore, who in an unprecedented move came onto the pitch to
give Roma Captain Francesco Totti a false story. Totti then
asked for the match to be stopped.
Despite repeated police reassurances over the public address
system that no one had been killed, Roma fans set fire to the
stands, sending terrified supporters, including many young
children, streaming out over the terraces.
Commentators also questioned why Italian Football League
president Adriano Galliani ordered the match to stop via
telephone from Milan when stadium security staff said there was
no risk if the game went on.
Outside the stadium hundreds of fans wearing Roma and Lazio
colours hurled flares, bottles and knives from behind makeshift
barricades. Police responded with volleys of tear gas.
More than 150 police were wounded and 21 fans were hurt.
Police searching the grounds outside the stadium on Monday
said they had found paper bombs stuffed with nails, screws and
metal shards as well as knives, bars and sticks, adding weight
to suspicions that the violence was pre-planned.
Police said closed-circuit television footage could lead to
more arrests.
'I suspect that all that happened was pre-arranged: in
politics you call it a strategy of tension,' Culture Ministry
Undersecretary Mario Pescante said, a former head of the Italian
Olympic Committee CONI.
The European Union has already moved to limit previous
government efforts to help out Italian soccer which also faces a
series of fraud investigations.• Your views on this story? Email newsdesk@soccernet.com
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