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Roma punished for Nazi symbols
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First Published: Jan 31, 2006
Italy's Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu said football games should
be suspended if any Nazi or facist symbols are on display inside
the stadium.
Roma were ordered to play their next Serie A home match behind closed
doors at a neutral venue as punishment for the Nazi symbols displayed
by their fans at last Sunday's game against Livorno.
To provoke the largely left-wing leaning Livorno fans, Roma supporters
in the Olympic stadium's south stand waved flags with swastikas
and held aloft an anti-semitic banner.
In addition to the one-match ban on supporters, the Italian football
league's disciplinary panel also fined Roma a total of 12,000 euros
(14,485 dollars).
Five thousand euros was for the Nazi symbols and the rest was for
the unruly behaviour of their fans during the match, which included
throwing missiles at visiting Livorno fans and lighting flares.
Livorno were given a 3,000 euro fine for their supporters' part
in the clashes.
Roma's home game against Cagliari on February 8 will now be played
behind closed doors at a neutral ground, which has yet to be chosen
by the Italian football league.
Earlier Tuesday, Italy's Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu said
football games should be suspended if any Nazi or fascist symbols
are on display inside the stadium.
Under legislation brought in by Pisanu last summer, football authorities
have the power to suspend games if offensive banners or flags are
seen in the stands.
No match has so far been suspended for such an offence, despite
similar events involving Lazio fans earlier in the season.
Roma said they were doing all they could to prevent offensive symbols
being brought into the Olympic stadium and that it was down to the
police to confiscate them because it is they who carry out the checks
at the turnstiles.
Despite Pisanu's apparently tough stance, he admitted that the
suspension of a match or any intervention by the police could create
"extreme tension and possibly endanger peaceful supporters".
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