Soccer Violence

A policeman, trying to break up a scuffle between soccer fans from opposing teams at a highway rest station near Arezzo, killed one of the men when he fired warning shots into the air.

Gabriele Sandri, 26, was a Lazio fan heading for a game of the top Italian league, Serie A, in Milan. He died as a result of the gunshot wounds on the morning of Sunday, Nov. 11, when an officer tried to stop a clash between fans of Lazio and Juventus, who appeared to have met by chance at the rest station.

Rioting then broke out in Bergamo and Rome, where fans attacked a police barracks, as well as the Olympic Stadium and the headquarters of the Italian Olympic Committee next door.

One game cancellation

Inter Milan-Lazio was the only game cancelled Sunday afternoon, but at an Atalanta-AC Milan match in Bergamo, hooligans caused the game to be abandoned after they tried to destroy a glass barrier in order to stampede the pitch. Five other Serie A games were played.

Authorities decided to cancel the late game between Roma and Cagliari, which was already considered at risk, but riots began outside the Stadio Olimpico where hooligans attacked city policemen, damaged cars and motorcycles and set fire to a police bus.

Later in the night, nearby police offices and the headquarters of the Italian Olympic Committee were attacked by hundreds of people.

ANSA news agency reported that nine policemen, three photographers and dozens of hooligans were injured in Rome.

"Now I have destroyed two families."

Police and the government, desperate to stem any further violence, are set to hold talks to clear up how the officer made such a "tragic error."

The officer under investigation for firing the fatal shot, identified only as Luigi S., could not believe he had hit the victim.

"I didn't point it at anything, I didn't aim at anybody," he told Corriere della Sera daily. "The first shot I fired into the air and the second left me while I was running. … Now I have destroyed two families, the man's and mine."

Sunday's violence mirrored riots outside a Catania match in Sicily in February, where a policeman was killed. That incident led to strict new security measures at soccer stadiums, but authorities may have to look again at the rules amid calls to ban away fans from all grounds in future.

"Painful day" for Italian soccer

"It is another very sad and painful day for all of Italian soccer," Italian soccer federation president Giancarlo Abete said in a statement to the press. "The first thought is of huge condolences for the family of Gabriele Sandri."

Abete said he had convened a meeting for late Monday with his board as well as representatives of the league, and player and coach associations.

They will discuss what to do about the cancelled Inter Milan vs. Lazio and AS Roma vs. Cagliari matches, and whether to play the Atalanta game or award the points to Milan.

Interior Minister Giuliano Amato told news agencies the killing was "a tragic error," but it happened in circumstances linked to the violence that permeates soccer, and "every week forces thousands of agents to patrol cities and roads to prevent that the worst happens."

A report last month said injuries at stadiums caused by fan violence had dropped 80 percent from last season, but Abete has often said that soccer authorities can do little to stamp out trouble away from stadiums.