Shocked Italians struggling to end urban warfare

On Sunday a policeman killed a Lazio fan prompting violence that left 40 officers injured and a government in familiar turmoil. Frank Dunne reports from Rome

For the second time in 10 months Italy is in a state of profound shock and self-analysis following a death linked to football violence. On Sunday, for the second time in 10 months, Italians turned on their television sets to see scenes resembling urban warfare in the place of the expected highlights of the day's play in Serie A.

In February, the victim was a police officer. This time it was a police officer who fired the fatal shot. The circumstances were entirely different but the malaise which has infected Italian football for over 20 years remains uncured.

The death on Sunday of a 26-year-old Lazio fan, Gabriele Sandri, sparked a violent reaction from football fans across the peninsula, leaving over 40 police officers injured, many seriously. In Rome, the headquarters of the Italian Olympic Committee were attacked, cars were damaged and rubbish bins set alight. In Milan, youths who had converged on the headquarters of the state broadcaster, Rai, clashed with police. Internazionale's match against Lazio at San Siro, which Sandri had been on his way to see, was called off, as was the match between Roma and Cagliari at Rome's Olympic stadium.

In Bergamo, Atalanta's home game with Milan was halted by the referee after seven minutes following violent scenes on the terraces and threats by the home fans that "something terrible would happen" if the game was not postponed.

The Milan midfielder Clarence Seedorf said: "It seemed like a civil war. It's terrible to see so many children crying at a game of football."

The football authorities met in an emergency session yesterday. Last night they announced they were suspending this weekend's Serie B and C games. There is no Serie A action this weekend because of Italy's game with Scotland, but the programme may not resume as normal on Sunday 25 November without what the president of the Italian football federation, Giancarlo Abete, described as "a categorical no to any form of violence" from the clubs. What, precisely, that would mean is not clear.

Abete said that Italy's national sides would wear black armbands in memory of Sandri, including the senior side's game in Glasgow on Saturday, a crucial Euro 2008 qualifying match. The Italy coach, Roberto Donadoni, expressed his sympathy to Sandri's family and launched an attack on the hooligan element who had exploited the situation. "What happened in Bergamo and Rome is pure madness," Donadoni said. "It's one of those situations when you feel sick and wish you could throw it all out. I believe that we are hostages of this violence, but you cannot be a slave in this manner."

The Interior Minister, Giuliano Amato, is to address Parliament on the killing today. The demands that something must be done to end football violence once and for all are depressingly familiar. Amato introduced a raft of measures in February, after the death of a 38-year-old police officer, Filippo Raciti, during disturbances at the Catania-Palermo derby in the spring.

The measures included the creation of a special body, the Osservatorio Nazionale sulle Manifestazioni Sportive, which has the power to ban away fans from high-risk matches. It said yesterday that those powers would now be toughened to prevent away fans circumventing bans by buying tickets online, and is also considering identity cards for fans. Local police will be encouraged to postpone or suspend games if they feel that disturbances in or around stadiums, or on public transport, represent a risk to the public.

Beyond a blanket ban on away fans at matches it is hard to see what further measures the government can take. Such a ban might be the only way to avoid groups of rival supporters running into each other away from the stadium – the circumstances which led to Sandri's death.

At around 9.10am, Sandri and his friends arrived at the Badia al Pino service station on the Rome-Milan motorway near the Tuscan town of Arezzo. Eye-witness accounts say that the five left their car and headed towards two cars containing Juventus fans who were on their way to Juve's match in Parma.

A fight broke out between the two groups but the youths dispersed when they heard the sirens of two police cars arriving on the south side of the carriageway. Sandri and his friends jumped into their Renault Megane and left the station. Seconds later, a police officer, Luigi Spaccarotella, fired two shots. The first was fired into the air, from "at least 200 metres away", he claimed. The second shot occurred "when I was running." Sandri, sitting in the back seat on the driver's side, was hit in the neck and died shortly afterwards.

The officer said on Sunday evening that he had "destroyed two families, the man's and mine." Magistrates informed the officer that he was under investigation for manslaughter but he has not been arrested.

Sandri had no track record as a hooligan and came from what has been described as a "solid middle-class family". By day he worked in his father's clothes shop in the comfortable Balduina district of the capital and by night he was a popular disc jockey. Visiting the scene of the shooting, the family lawyer, Luigi Conti, said: "This was murder."

Amato called the killing a "tragic error". The head of the Italian police, Antonio Manganelli, described the death as "absurd", adding that the police would collaborate fully with the investigating magistrates. The Italian President, Giorgio Napolitano, on a state visit to Qatar, said he was "extremely worried about the death of the young Roman and at the scenes of grave violence" which followed. Elsewhere, political reaction was divided between outrage at an unnecessary death and anger at the hooligans' mayhem.

Fausto Bertinotti, the Communist leader of the chamber of deputies, warned against any kind of cover-up: "Firearms must only ever be used in the most extreme circumstances. It is not acceptable that something like this should happen. Everyone can understand human error but this must not be confused with avoiding responsibility."

Supporters' groups were quick to put the blame on the police and the government. In the wake of Raciti's death, Carlo Balestri, founder of Progetto Ultra, a group representing moderate "ultras" (radical fans), had warned that the government's emergency security measures would be counter-productive, serving only to increase tensions between fans and the police. He claimed yesterday to have been prophetic and spoke of "wrong decisions" by the authorities.

At Raciti's funeral his daughter read out a letter to her father which concluded: "I hope your death really changes things." Real change still seems a long way off.

Violence and shame: Italian football's diary of disaster

* 21 MARCH 2004 Match between Roma and Lazio abandoned after rumours of young boy being killed by police car lead to supporters invading pitch to talk to Francesco Totti. He asks referee to call the game off.

* 12 APRIL 2005 Milan goalkeeper Dida struck by flare thrown from crowd during Champions League semi-final with Internazionale. Referee Markus Merk abandons match.

* 15 SEPTEMBER Match between Roma and Dynamo Kiev abandoned after referee Anders Frisk is struck by lighter thrown from the stands as teams walk off at half-time.

* 14 MARCH 2006 Three Middlesbrough fans stabbed before Uefa Cup match at Roma; 12 more require hospital treatment.

* 14 JULY Match-fixing scandal results in Fiorentina, Juventus and Lazio being demoted to Serie B and Milan deducted 15 points. Fiorentina and Lazio later reinstated on appeal and all points deductions reduced.

* 2 FEBRUARY 2007 Policeman dies after being struck in face by explosive device in Sicily. Incident happens after Catania's match with Palermo had to be suspended after tear-gas filled stadium. Football suspended for a week by Italian federation.

* 4 APRIL Manchester United fans involved in clashes with riot police during Champions League match with Roma.

* 18 APRIL Italy lose bid to host the 2012 European Championships to Poland and Ukraine, despite being seen as favourites. Bid hampered by recent match-fixing scandal and crowd problems. Decision made not to bid for 2018 World Cup.

James Mariner