http://sport.france2.fr/football/italie/804445-fr.php

France 2 - Publié le22/03 à 13:41

Football Italie

Rome privée de derby

Francesco Totti, le capitaine de la Roma - AFP - Paolo Cocco

Le derby entre la Lazio et l'AS.Roma a été interrompu dimanche soir pour des raisons "d'ordre public".

Des rumeurs, démenties par la suite, faisant état de la mort d'un enfant à l'extérieur du stade ont provoqué de vives tensions et des affrontements. Le derby a donc été arrêté à la 46e mn (0-0) et sera rejoué ultérieurement. L'AS Rome reste 2e à dix points du Milan AC qui a confirmé ses belles dispositions en s'imposant aisément devant Parme 3-1.

Samedi, les canonniers Tomasson (deux fois) et Chevchenko ont encore fait parler la poudre pour permettre au Milan de s'envoler. La Juventus tenu en échec 0-0 à Udinese marque le pas.  La Lazio privée de match reste quatrième.

L'Inter a fait la bonne opération du week-end puisque le club milanais a mis fin à une longue série noire : 4 défaites et 2 nuls. A Ancône, les 6e du classement l'ont emporté 2-0 grâce à deux réalisations de Alvaro Recoba, d'un puissant tir du pied gauche, et Danielle Adani, sur une passe décisive de Recoba en seconde mi-temps.

Un derby sous haute tension

Une rumeur a donc stoppé un derby romain très attendu. La Lazio (4e) et l'AS Rome (2e) s'apprêtaient à batailler pour la tête du Calcio. Rapidement le bruit, selon laquelle un petit garçon avait été renversé par une voiture de police, a été démenti. Mais rien n'y a fait.

La confusion a régné pendant de longues minutes dans les tribunes du stade Olympique. Trois personnes ont été légèrement blessées lors des affrontements qui ont eu lieu entre police et groupes de jeunes à l'extérieur du stade après l'interruption du match. Les incidents se sont poursuivis dans les quartiers avoisinants et le long du Tibre, une heure après l'interruption de la partie au début de la seconde mi-temps. Selon un bilan de la préfecture de police, publié lundi, les affrontements auraient fait 153 blessés parmi les
policiers et 14 tifosi.

Ayant eu vent de la rumeur, le capitaine de l'AS Rome Francesco Totti, son équipier Antonio Cassano, leurs partenaires et adversaires, n'avaient plus le coeur à jouer. Le match a été définitivement arrêté après des conciliabules sur le terrain même entre l'arbitre et les joueurs des deux équipes ainsi que par téléphone avec Adriano Galliani, président de la Ligue italienne.

La décision de report provoquera toutefois des problèmes aux dirigeants de la Ligue et des deux équipes, le calendrier étant chargé ces prochaines semaines.

Police arrest 13 after Italy derby turns into riot
Mon 22 March, 2004 09:31

ROME, March 22 (Reuters) - Police arrested 13 people and more than 170 were injured when the Rome derby match between Lazio and AS Roma erupted into a pitched battle between police and fans late on Sunday.

The match was abandoned in the second half after a false rumour circulated that a young boy had been killed by a police car outside the Olympic Stadium.

Police denied the rumour but rioting broke out in the stands with some supporters setting fire to the seats and raining flares and bottles down upon lines of riot forces.

Police responded by firing tear gas, while outside the stadium, fans set up barricades in the streets and fought a running battle that newspapers said lasted around six hours.

"It was true guerrilla warfare," one police source said.

Some 155 police officers were wounded, one with stab wounds, and 21 fans were hurt, Rome officials said.

The second half of the match was four minutes old, with the score at 0-0, when a fan walked on to the playing area behind the Roma goal to interrupt the match with the rumour of the death.

Both sets of players gathered in the centre circle to discuss the situation with referee Roberto Rosetti as flares rained down on riot police positioned underneath the south stand, where the majority of Roma's supporters were sitting.

The police department of Rome quickly denied the rumour via the stadium announcer.

After a 15-minute delay -- during which tear gas and then smoke billowed into the stadium through the exits in the south stand -- the match was abandoned.

lundi 22 mars 2004, 13h19 

Italie: 167 blessés léger lors du derby romain

ROME (AFP) - Les violences survenues dimanche soir au stade olympique de Rome lors du derby du Championnat d'Italie de football, Lazio-AS Rome, arrêté pour des raisons d'ordre public, ont fait 153 blessés parmi les policiers et 14 tifosi, selon un nouveau bilan lundi de la préfecture de police.

Parmi les 153 blessés appartenant aux forces de l'ordre, aucun ne se trouve plus à l'hôpital. Les médecins ont diagnostiqué quelques traumatismes, contusions et entorses.

Le match a été interrompu à la 47e minute de jeu à la suite de tensions nées d'une rumeur, aussitôt démentie par la police, selon laquelle un petit garçon avait été renversé par une voiture de police aux abords du stade, près du ministère des Affaires étrangères.

Quinze personnes ont été arrêtées et 23 autres seront déférées devant un juge. Elles sont toutes accusées de résistance et outrage à représentants de la force publique et lancer d'objets.

La confusion a régné pendant de longues minutes dimanche soir dans les tribunes du stade Olympique et dans le secteur du Foro italico.

Adriano Galliani, président de la Ligue italienne de football, joint par téléphone portable, a pris la responsabilité d'arrêter la partie après avoir parlé avec tous les protagonistes, notamment avec l'entraîneur de la Roma, Fabio Capello.

Au contraire, pour le préfet de police de Rome, Achille Serra, le match aurait dû reprendre car l'arrêter et évacuer le stade aurait pu comporter plus de risques.

Le préfet a expliqué avoir parlé avec les deux capitaines, Francesco Totti pour la Roma, et Sinisa Mihajlovic, pour la Lazio, afin qu'ils fassent une annonce au haut-parleur afin de calmer les tifosi, mais en vain.

De nombreux spécialistes du football estiment que dimanche les joueurs ont subi le "chantage" des tifosi.

http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=4624936

UPDATE 2-Rome soccer riot may have been planned, say politicians

Mon 22 March, 2004 19:02

(updates with more arrests, background)

By Rachel Sanderson

ROME , March 22 (Reuters) - A hardcore of Lazio and AS Roma soccer fans may have worked together to start a riot which caused the Rome derby to be abandoned on Sunday, politicians said on Monday.

Police arrested 18 supporters from both sides, some of them known hooligans, after the hotly-anticipated match turned into a six-hour pitched battle between police and fans that left more than 170 people injured.

"It was pure guerrilla warfare," one police official said.  

Some politicians connected the violence with a controversial proposal to pass a law that would help bail out Italy 's cash-strapped clubs by giving them tax breaks.

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, owner of AC Milan, supports the law and a day before the violence said he feared that "revolution will explode" on the terraces if the government does not step in to help the clubs' finances.

"It seems to me like an attempt to blackmail the government. It was planned to place strong pressure at a time when the government has to make an important decision," said Welfare Minister Roberto Maroni.

Lazio and Roma are at the centre of Italy 's "Save Soccer" dispute, together shouldering around 200 million euros ($246.9 million) of debt, but still boasting some of the most highly-paid players.

The violence erupted when the game was abandoned in the second half after a false rumour circulated that a young boy had been killed by a police car outside the Olympic Stadium.

Among those arrested were three "ultras", Italy 's hooligan hardcore, who in an unprecedented move came onto the pitch to give Roma Captain Francesco Totti a false story. Totti then asked for the match to be stopped.  

Despite repeated police reassurances over the public address system that no one had been killed, Roma fans set fire to the stands, sending terrified supporters, including many young children, streaming out over the terraces.

Commentators also questioned why Italian Football League president Adriano Galliani ordered the match to stop via telephone from Milan when stadium security staff said there was no risk if the game went on.

BOTTLES AND KNIVES

Outside the stadium hundreds of fans wearing Roma and Lazio colours hurled flares, bottles and knives from behind makeshift barricades. Police responded with volleys of tear gas.

More than 150 police were wounded and 21 fans were hurt.

Police searching the grounds outside the stadium on Monday said they had found paper bombs stuffed with nails, screws and metal shards as well as knives, bars and sticks, adding weight to suspicions that the violence was pre-planned.

Police said closed-circuit television footage could lead to more arrests.

"I suspect that all that happened was pre-arranged: in politics you call it a strategy of tension," Culture Ministry Undersecretary Mario Pescante said, a former head of the Italian Olympic Committee CONI.

The European Union has already moved to limit previous government efforts to help out Italian soccer which also faces a series of fraud investigations.

Soccer: Rumor and tear gas swirl in rowdy Rome clash

The Associated Press
Monday, March 22, 2004

ROME The police arrested 15 people during clashes with fans after the Rome derby between Lazio and AS Roma was suspended following a rumor that a boy had been killed by the police outside the Olympic Stadium.

The police said Monday that they were investigating how the rumor, which was disputed, started, including the possibility that it was a premeditated act by some fans.

ANSA, a news agency, said that 24 people were treated at hospitals and that all were released during the night.

The police reiterated repeatedly that nobody was killed Sunday - including in announcements on the Stadio Olimpico public address system.

Fans on both ends of the stadium wrapped up their usual array of banners immediately before the chaos that resulted in the suspension after 48 minutes of play with the score tied 0-0.

The Roma captain, Francesco Totti, and a Lazio defender, Sinisa Mihajlovic, along with match officials, were questioned by the police after midnight to try to determine what exactly had happened and how the rumor had started.

Neither Totti nor Mihajlovic spoke to reporters after the questioning.

As the second half began, most of fans at one end of the stadium - Lazio's end - began chanting "murderers" at the police and demanded that the game be stopped because they claimed the police had run over a boy outside the stadium.

Some fan representatives ran on to the field to discuss their stance with Totti and other players.

After a few moments of bewilderment, the referee, Roberto Rosetti, suspended the game.

A police spokesman, Maurizio Improta, said the rumor was unfounded and told Sky TV, which was broadcasting the match, that "nothing had happened."

Repeated announcements on the stadium public address system reiterated that no major incident had occurred.

Rosetti later said he stopped the game for "reasons of public order."

Outside the stadium, fans set small fires and police in riot gear battled with unruly fans, who hurled paving stones and flares.

"There was a rumor that a boy was run over by a police car," Mihajlovic said in an interview with RAI state radio. "We did the right thing. If we played, this could have gotten very bad."

The Serie A president, Adriano Galliani, said he had given Rosetti the final approval to suspend the match. Since both teams agreed on the decision, he said, the match is to be replayed.

"I spoke with everyone and they were aware of the situation," Galliani said. "It was up to me. I decided on the suspension and therefore the game will be replayed."

Arrests after English match

Eight soccer fans were arrested when violence flared after the English Premier League match between Portsmouth and Southampton, the police said, Reuters reported from London .

Portsmouth fans clashed Sunday with more than 400 officers following the team's 1-0 victory over their southern coast rivals Southampton after a second-half goal from Aiyegbeni Yakubu.

They hurled coins and other objects, smashed store windows and wrecked cars. Several people were injured and four police vehicles were damaged outside Portsmouth 's Fratton Park ground.

The police said more arrests were expected after officers examine security camera footage taken around the match.