Rome riot toll rises

| Mon, 11/12/2007 - 05:42

Rome riot toll rises40 police hurt in street violence after fan shooting - The toll of injuries among policemen rose to 40 Monday morning from a night of street violence around the city's Olympic Stadium in the wake of the fatal police shooting of a Lazio fan on Sunday morning.

The most serious of the policemen injured was a police officer hit by a metal bar in an assault on a police station near the stadium.

Doctors said it would take him about three weeks to recover.

Three persons - two men and a woman - were arrested during the riots in which an estimated 500 Lazio and Roma fans attacked three police stations and the headquarters of the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI).

Damage to various buildings and vehicles was said to be "incalculable".

Authorities were set to meet later in the day to decide possible further measures against hooliganism in the wake of a crackdown after a policeman's death in February.

An autopsy on the dead fan, 26-year-old Gabriele Sandri, will be carried out on Monday.

Ballistics tests are still being carried out at the motorway rest stop where he was shot following a scuffle with Juventus fans.

National police chief Antonio Manganello said "we will assume full responsibility" for what Interior Minister Giuliano Amato has called "a tragic mistake".

Police initially said the fan was hit by one of two shots fired into the air to stop the scuffle.

Reconstructions in Italy's media on Monday suggested the unidentified policeman may have taken direct aim at Sandri's car because he thought it was making a getaway after a robbery.

The incidents in Rome came after Sunday night's Roma-Cagliari match was called off for security reasons.

Earlier, hooligan violence led to the suspension of the Atalanta-Milan matches in Bergamo and a Serie B match in Taranto.

Incidents were reported in other Italian cities.

"I am convinced that the hooligans were only waiting for an excuse to unleash the mayhem and bestiality which we saw," said Luca Pancalli, the CONI vice-president who steered Italian soccer out of the Calciopoli match-fixing crisis.

"There are no miraculous recipes (against hooliganism)," said Italian Soccer Federation (Federcalcio) chief Giancarlo Abete.

"I can't imagine the world of soccer in 10-15 years will only be made up of people watching TV".

"I don't want to think that".

Abete declined to speculate whether the championship would be suspended after meetings of soccer, police and government authorities later Monday.

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