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.
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. 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,"
Source:
LazioFever
[With
Special Thanks to R.F. for the photos]
