(ANSA) - Enraged fans of Genoa soccer
club rampaged through the city on Monday night after the Italian soccer federation confirmed a decision to relegate the team as a punishment for match-fixing.
Riot police used tear gas as they battled till the early hours of Tuesday with hardcore fans who set fire to trash containers and overturned cars in central streets and squares.
The violent reaction came after the federation's highest appeals board on Monday rejected Genoa's bid to overturn its relegation to C1, sparking dismay and anger among fans. Earlier this month, the federation found Genoa guilty of bribing Venezia to throw its final Serie B match of the season. The 3-2 victory guaranteed Genoa a return to Serie A after a 10-year absence.
The rioting started at about midnight when an initially peaceful march of 2,000 Genoa supporters protesting the federation's decision degenerated into chaos.
Angry groups of supporters clad in their team's red and blue colours threw bottles and rocks at police as skirmishes broke out in many of the allies and piazzas of the newly renovated centre. Fire services said on Tuesday they had put out about 40 fires during the night, most of them rubbish bins set alight
by fans.
Club and city officials expressed their displeasure over the soccer federation's ruling on Monday.
Genoa club officials have decided to turn to a civil court after the federation confirmed its decision to boot the club into C1.
"We will continue our battle in the hope of finding judges who can distinguish between justice and prejudice," said the club's attorney Alfredo Biondi, an MP who is also House deputy speaker.
Genoa's archbishop, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, also expressed his disappointment over Monday's ruling, saying that the city and the club's fans did not deserve to see their team penalised in this way.
"The last few weeks leads to a conviction that we are a long way from real justice," he said.
However, the prelate urged fans not to express their anger with violence but to wait patiently for the ruling of Italy's ordinary courts.
