Catania Ultras "ambushed" cops
Catania director Pietro Lo Monaco has revealed more disturbing details of the riot that killed a police officer. "It was an ambush."
Trouble broke out when the Palermo fans arrived at the Stadio Massimino 55 minutes into Friday night’s match.
The supporters and the police escort were attacked by local Ultras and 38-year-old Chief Inspector Filippo Raciti was killed when a homemade bomb exploded nearby and he was allegedly also struck in the chest by a rock.
The combination of the two events saw him unable to breathe and he was declared dead in hospital. Another 100 people were injured in the riots that carried on after the final whistle.
Late last night over 250 policemen staged raids on several organised Catania fan clubs in the city.
"We’ve had three years of our hard work taken away," said director Lo Monaco, who helped the club to its first promotion in 20 years.
"I wouldn’t even say that this was a moment of insanity, because what happened looks to be a premeditated attack. They staged an ambush on the police and Palermo fans."
This is not the first time that Catania have been involved in crowd trouble, as this season they had already received a two-match ban behind closed doors after fighting broke out with Messina and Palermo supporters in the space of a week.
"Something is wrong, quite beyond this particular incident. There are areas of the stadium that have become the Ultra territory, where rules no longer apply and you cannot enter."
Lo Monaco urged for a change to the current laws, as at the moment hooligans are released almost immediately, but clubs are forced to pay large fines for crowd trouble.
"The whole issue of ‘responsibility’ of the clubs is incorrect and we cannot carry on like this. When someone breaks the law, he has to be locked behind bars and the key thrown away."
The FIGC has ordered the immediate suspension of all football activity in Italy, but the Catania representative remains pessimistic over what this will achieve.
"I know full well that now we’ll spent 10 days at round table committees, making programmes, symposiums and then we will forget all about Raciti. It’ll start again, business as usual."
Source: C4 Football Italia
Trouble broke out when the Palermo fans arrived at the Stadio Massimino 55 minutes into Friday night’s match.
The supporters and the police escort were attacked by local Ultras and 38-year-old Chief Inspector Filippo Raciti was killed when a homemade bomb exploded nearby and he was allegedly also struck in the chest by a rock.
The combination of the two events saw him unable to breathe and he was declared dead in hospital. Another 100 people were injured in the riots that carried on after the final whistle.
Late last night over 250 policemen staged raids on several organised Catania fan clubs in the city.
"We’ve had three years of our hard work taken away," said director Lo Monaco, who helped the club to its first promotion in 20 years.
"I wouldn’t even say that this was a moment of insanity, because what happened looks to be a premeditated attack. They staged an ambush on the police and Palermo fans."
This is not the first time that Catania have been involved in crowd trouble, as this season they had already received a two-match ban behind closed doors after fighting broke out with Messina and Palermo supporters in the space of a week.
"Something is wrong, quite beyond this particular incident. There are areas of the stadium that have become the Ultra territory, where rules no longer apply and you cannot enter."
Lo Monaco urged for a change to the current laws, as at the moment hooligans are released almost immediately, but clubs are forced to pay large fines for crowd trouble.
"The whole issue of ‘responsibility’ of the clubs is incorrect and we cannot carry on like this. When someone breaks the law, he has to be locked behind bars and the key thrown away."
The FIGC has ordered the immediate suspension of all football activity in Italy, but the Catania representative remains pessimistic over what this will achieve.
"I know full well that now we’ll spent 10 days at round table committees, making programmes, symposiums and then we will forget all about Raciti. It’ll start again, business as usual."
Source: C4 Football Italia
posted by italian calcio blog at 9:49 pm
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