AS Roma and Napoli Fans Italy’s Most Dangerous
Observatory says Lazio and Fiorentina have best-behaved supporters. Interior minister Maroni tells defence minister La Russa: “I’m with chief of police Manganelli”
作者:Fiorenza Sarzanini
原文:
ROME – Topping the interior ministry observatory’s list of football hooligans are AS Roma and Napoli fans. Also under close observation are Pisa supporters. Juventus and Inter Milan fans pose a threat particularly on the motorway when they are travelling to away games whereas Catania and Livorno supporters are classified as “sleepers”, and therefore potentially dangerous. But high-risk fan bases can also be found in the lower divisions, especially Serie C, where three clubs are constantly monitored for possible public order problems before and after matches: Hellas Verona, Taranto and Cavese.
For the time being, only Fiorentina and Lazio fans are classed as well behaved. After episodes of hooliganism in past seasons, both sets of supporters showed last year that “they had embarked on a positive path of dialogue with the authorities and towards opposing supporters”. In the wake of controversy over the attack by on a train by Napoli hooligans, the interior ministry is updating the list of high-risk games for the 2008-2009 championship and considering any bans to be imposed on organised supporters’ groups. The observatory’s director Domenico Mazzilli points out that playing matches behind closed doors “will be a solution of last resort, to be adopted only in case of serious threats to the safety of the public”.
It is however likely that the travelling fans’ section will be closed at many games to exclude organised groups of travelling fans. The highest-risk match is undoubtedly Catania versus AS Roma, scheduled for 21 December but there are also fears for the Fiorentina-Bologna match on 21 September. Tension between the two sets of fans has remained high since 18 June 1989, when Ivan Dall’Olio, who was fourteen at the time, suffered severe burns after a Molotov cocktail was thrown at the train taking Bologna supporters to Florence. Observatory secretary Roberto Massucci explains: “In assessing the risk, you have to take into account these variables, which can spark off violent incidents”. Journeys made by travelling fans have to be seen in this perspective. This is when Juventus and Inter Milan fans pose most problems. Mr Massucci continues: “Last season, there were virtually no organised trains and fans travelled by motorway in small or larger groups. Often, that was when they trashed service stations, sometimes in what amounted to full-scale assaults”.
As a result, controls will be intensified, particularly in view of the shooting incident on 11 November last year in which Gabriele Sandri died in a service station car park on the A1 motorway. Mr Massucci maintains that “during the season, we will have to take action to ensure that about twenty matches go ahead in the proper fashion. We are monitoring on the basis of data collected last season but of course we are also taking into account information arriving from the territory, which is constantly updated”. DIGOS special branch officers have completed the identification of more than 3,000 individuals who attacked a train last Sunday, discovering that just under 800 – one in four – have already been charged at least once. Yesterday, the interior minister, Roberto Maroni, reaffirmed his “full confidence” in chief of police Antonio Manganelli, an implicit jibe at the defence minister, Ignazio La Russa, who had called speculation that Camorra organised crime gangs could have been behind the attack “an alibi”. Mr Maroni said: “The last word was that of the chief of police, who speaks for the interior ministry. The minister of the interior backs the chief of police 110%. I myself referred to organised crime, not organised supporters, which is why I proposed [charges of – Ed.] criminal association. We are well aware of the problem. Mr Manganelli’s words are the words of the minister of the interior”.