ITALY: Italian PM promises drastic measures to confront soccer violence after clashes in Catania left one policeman dead

Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi has promised drastic measures to confront soccer violence after clashes by rampaging fans at a match left a policeman dead and over 150 people injured. Prodi's comments came as Italy's football stadiums fell silent on Saturday with all play in the country's leagues suspended indefinitely after the death of Filippo Raciti, 38, on Friday. He was killed when a large firecracker exploded in his face outside Catania's Massimino stadium during a Serie A match between Palermo and Catania -- just six days after a club official died in a fight at the end of an amateur match in the southern town of Luzzi. Prodi, who had already described the violence as a "degeneration of sport," said he would meet Interior Minister Giuliano Amato and Sports Minister Giovanna Melandri on Monday to come up with ideas for a "robust" measure. "We cannot continuously put the lives of police officers at risk and need a remedy that makes soccer clubs feel responsible (for fans' actions) and radically changes the situation," Prodi told reporters in Bologna. The latest violence prompted a wave of outrage in Italy, even though rowdy brawls at Italian football matches are hardly uncommon. Fans fighting each other or the police, and flares, firecrackers and explosives are often as much part of a Serie A match as banners, chants and cheering. Raciti's death has resulted in the immediate suspension of all play by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC), which also called for a moment of silence on Saturday and Sunday. Raciti was the 13th person to be killed in or around Italy's football stadiums since 1962. The last fatality at a Serie A match happened in 1995 when a Genoa fan was stabbed to death before a game against AC Milan.

ITN Source | February 4, 2007

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