Italy says soccer death an ‘excuse’ for rampage

As the body of 26-year-old Gabriele Sandri, killed in an apparently accidental shooting after a brawl between fans, lay in wake in Rome, the country which won the World Cup last year wrestled with its inability to stem soccer violence.

Graffiti scrawled on walls in Rome promised more trouble, threatening “bloody” revenge against police for Sandri’s death.

Police are investigating what they called a “tragic mistake.” Interior Minister Giuliano Amato said fans had seized on the incident to resume a war on police which had been suspended after the death of a policeman in clashes in February.

“The violent reaction to Gabriele Sandri’s death shows they were looking for an opportunity — and found it — to raise again the banners they were forced to lower after the death of (Sicilian policeman Filippo) Raciti,” Amato said.

“This gave them a new reason for their vendetta and their hatred of the police, who had shot a fan, was bound to explode again,” said Amato, grilled by parliament on Sunday’s violence.

The Italian soccer federation has suspended this weekend’s second and third division programme after the latest violence. There were no top-flight domestic matches scheduled because Italy are playing Scotland in a European championship qualifier.

The measures were much less drastic than those taken in February when all matches were suspended pending tougher new security measures at stadiums.

Some politicians demanded tougher action.

“It is not enough to stop Serie B for one Sunday and Serie C, we should stop the top league, around which the whole soccer machinery revolves,” said Social Affairs Minister Paolo Ferrero.

Hundreds of fans went on the rampage around Italy after the killing, which followed scuffles between fans of Rome’s Lazio and Turin’s Juventus at a motorway service station.

A Rome police barracks was pelted with rocks, cars were set on fire and matches were called off — in one case after fans tried to smash down a glass barrier keeping them from the pitch. Some 40 police were injured in Rome. Dozens of fans were arrested.

The confusing circumstances of the killing, with the police officer saying he accidentally shot across a busy motorway at a carload of fans driving away from the scene of the brawl, added to the impression of violence spiralling out of control.

February’s death of a policeman — which came six days after a man died at an amateur club game — led to the temporary suspension of league soccer and contributed to Italy missing out in the contest to host the Euro 2012 championship.

Clubs have now enforced much stricter measures at matches to control hooligans and officials say this has helped cut violence at stadiums by 80 percent from last season.

But while an opinion poll for La Repubblica newspaper showed one person in two favored keeping fans out for the rest of the season, some soccer officials tried to distance the sport from violence sparked by an incident far away from any stadium.

UEFA President Michel Platini told one paper that “Sandri’s death has nothing to do with soccer” and asked if, had a pop fan been killed instead, all concerts would have been cancelled.

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