Raging Riots Ensue After Soccer Fan Is Killed
Pastor Dale Morgan
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Nov 11, 5:19 PM EST
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Raging Riots Ensue After Soccer Fan Is Killed*
By FRANCES D'EMILIO
Associated Press Writer
ROME (AP) -- A police officer accidentally shot and killed a soccer fan
Sunday while trying to break up a fight by a Tuscan highway between
supporters of rival teams, authorities said. Enraged by the killing,
hundreds of fans rioted in Rome, attacking a police station.
Fans stormed the yard of a police station near the Rome's Olympic
Stadium, hurled stones at passing police cars, and smashed windows at
the nearby Italian Olympic Committee headquarters.
Hundreds of youths, many with their faces covered by scarves and ski
masks, dragged metal barricades and trash bins to block off one end of a
bridge spanning the Tiber near the station. The rioters smashed a window
in the police station and set a police vehicle on fire inside the gate.
Sky TG24 TV showed images of flames from what it said was a bus set on
fire near the barracks.
Rome's police headquarters said the barracks was under attack but did
not give details. It said some arrests were made but did not give a number.
The ANSA news agency reported that at least 10 police suffered injuries
near the Rome stadium, but police said there only a few injuries and
they were minor.
RAI state TV, reporting from the stadium, said one of its cameramen was
injured as well as a cameraman for a private network.
In the Tuscan town of Arezzo, police chief Vincenzo Giacobbe said the
fatal shooting of the fan was "a tragic error" that occurred when a
police officer intervened in a scuffle between two groups of people.
"I express deep sorrow and sincere condolences to the family of the
victim," Giacobbe said.
Gabriele Sandri, a 26-year-old DJ from Rome and a fan of the city's
Lazio soccer team, had been traveling to the northern city of Milan for
Lazio's game against rival Inter Milan. He was hit in the neck by a
bullet while in a car at the rest area along the A1 Autostrada highway
near the town of Arezzo, about 125 miles north of Rome.
Arezzo police, reading a statement, said officers in two patrol cars who
were stopped on the opposite side of the highway turned on their sirens
when they "heard yelling, screaming" and realized the occupants of three
cars in the rest area were fighting.
When the clash continued, the police fired warning shots into the air.
All three cars began to return the highway, police said, adding that one
of the occupants of the vehicles "took a shot." The car with Sandri in
it drove a few miles to the next exit to seek medical help. An ambulance
crew was unable to revive him, police said.
They described the officer who fired the shots as a veteran but didn't
provide the officer's name, and, adding that the case was under
investigation, refused to answer questions.
Several Italian TV channels showed Sandri's brother, Cristiano Sandri,
gesturing angrily and yelling "they killed my brother." A man described
by Sky TG24 as the family's lawyer repeatedly said that the shooting
amounted to "first-degree murder."
Clashes between rival fans at rest stops are common in Italy.
Sky quoted witnesses as saying the other two cars were vans carrying
Juventus fans from Naples heading to a match in Parma.
The Italian soccer federation postponed the Inter-Lazio game, and
security officials in Rome canceled a Sunday night match between Roma
and Cagliari. Other games on Sunday started 10 minutes late, with
players and referees wearing black armbands.
Premier Romano Prodi, who was attending Mass when he was informed of the
death, called fan violence "very worrisome."
The killing also prompted clashes between fans and police in Bergamo,
where AC Milan was playing Atalanta. The match was stopped after seven
minutes when Atalanta fans tried to break through a barrier and storm
onto the field.
Last season, a policeman was killed in riots following a game between
Palermo and Catania in Sicily. Under new anti-violence measures this
season, some fans have been barred from traveling to games.
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Associated Press photographer Andrew Medichini and sports writer Andrew
Dampf contributed to this report.