Police investigate football riots

ITALIAN police are investigating claims that a disturbance at the Roma-Lazio derby on Sunday which led to riots which left more than 170 people injured, was started deliberately by a hard-core of hooligan supporters from both teams.

Trouble flared three minutes after the start of the second half when supporters began to chant "murderers" at police officers around the edge of the Olympic Stadium in Rome and demanded that the game be halted.

Players from both sides gathered in the centre circle while two Roma fans managed to climb over security fences and tell Roma captain Francesco Totti that a child had died after being run over by a police car.

A clearly shocked Totti then spoke to Lazio captain Sinisa Mihajlovic and both agreed that they could not play on.

The referee, Roberto Rosetti, then telephoned Italian FA chief Adriano Galliani from the pitch and was told in the interests of safety to call off the match. It was abandoned with the score at 0-0.

Minutes later stadium officials tried to reassure fans over loudspeakers that no-one had died but it did nothing to calm both sets of fans and as tension rose, fires began to be lit in sections of the ground.

Meanwhile, outside the ground, running street battles broke out as both Roma and Lazio fans - sworn enemies - joined together to attack police who fired rounds of tear gas.

Police yesterday said they had arrested 13 supporters from both sides, some of them known hooligans, following a six-hour battle between police and fans. "It was true guerrilla warfare," one police source said.

A total of 155 police officers were wounded and 21 fans were hurt, police said yesterday.

Police searching the grounds outside the stadium said they had found paper bombs stuffed with nails, screws and metal shards as well as knives, bars and sticks. They added that the number of arrests could rise as officers looked at close-circuit television footage.