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Quarti di Finale - andata ROMA MANCHESTER UTD 2-1 Roma, Stadio Olimpico, 4 aprile 2007 ore 20.45 
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CRONACHE ITALIANE
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La protesta del Manchester. Il Manchester United ha chiesto allo stesso governo britannico di esaminare gli incidenti. "Le scene dolorose viste allo stadio Olimpico la notte scorsa hanno scioccato tutti all'Old Trafford - si legge in un comunicato - In quella che il nostro club vede come una grave reazione eccessiva la polizia locale ha picchiato indiscriminatamente i tifosi dello United. In queste circostanze né il Manchester United né l'AS Roma possono chiedere conto alla polizia delle sue responsabilità. In conseguenza, il club saluta con favore l'esame da parte del governo di questi incidenti, e raccoglierà le testimonianze dei fan da inviare al ministero dell'Interno". Il club invita quindi i tifosi che volessero testimoniare di mettersi in contatto con la società.
La reazione del governo inglese. Dal governo arriva una prima reazione. "Le scene che abbiamo visto sui nostri schermi televisivi sono estremamente preoccupanti - dice il sottosegretario britannico, Vernon Coaker - Abbiamo bisogno di spiegazioni su ciò che è successo e sulla maniera in cui la polizia ha risposto".
La Uefa apre un'inchiesta. La Uefa ha aperto un'indagine sugli incidenti e martedì deciderà se trasmettere il dossier alla commissione disciplinare.
Il bilancio degli scontri. Nei tafferugli con gli ultrà della Roma e nelle dure cariche della Polizia all'interno dello stadio sono rimasti feriti diversi tifosi inglesi, 11 dei quali sono finiti in ospedale. "Ho visto poco di quello che è successo. Ho visto dei razzi sparati e ho visto le cariche della polizia. Aspettiamo il referto del delegato". dice William Gaillard, direttore della comunicazione della Uefa, che ieri sera era presente allo stadio Olimpico.
La difesa di Serra. Per il Prefetto di Roma Achille Serra "la Polizia italiana ha agito correttamente. Se qualcuno dimostrasse il contrario sarei io stesso a chiedere un'inchiesta - continua - la Polizia si trovava in cima agli spalti e poi è stata costretta ad intervenire". Serra smentisce anche le voci secondo cui sarebbero entrati 1500 tifosi inglesi senza biglietti. "Non mi risulta, sono fantasie di chi sa quale fonte".Serra ha voluto chiarire che molti dei tifosi inglesi sugli spalti erano ubriachi: "Abbiamo ospitato a Roma tifosi di tutte le nazionalità, ma non è mai successo niente".
La versione della Questura. All'interno dello stadio Olimpico, così come all'esterno prima dell'incontro di calcio, ci sono state cariche di alleggerimento precedute da una serie di atti di violenza dei tifosi inglesi. E soprattutto all'interno del settore ospiti, dove erano stati sistemati i tifosi del Manchester "la polizia è intervenuta per riportare alla calma un gruppo nutrito di supporter che avevano lanciato oggetti verso il settore dei tifosi italiani, dopo aver divelto numerosi seggiolini dagli spalti".
Arresti.
E tre tifosi inglesi sono stati arrestati
ieri
sera dopo i tafferugli. Per loro la Questura ha disposto il Daspo, il divieto
di accedere a manifestazioni sportive, per tre anni. Sono accusati di violenza
a pubblico ufficiale e questa mattina sono stati processati per direttissima.
Secondo quanto si è appreso nel corso dell'udienza in tribunale
i tre tifosi avrebbero ammesso di aver bevuto prima di entrare allo stadio
Olimpico almeno 10 bottiglie di birra a testa e di non ricordare nulla
di quanto è avvenuto sugli spalti dello stadio Olimpico.
Le accuse della stampa e dei tifosi. Chi invece non ha dubbi su come sono andati i fatti sono i tifosi e i giornali inglesi. Da Manchester arrivano durissime accuse alle polizia italiana. "Cariche senza motivo - accusano i tifosi del Manchester nel sito Imusa.org - la polizia italiana era schierata ai bordi del nostro settore in un assetto di attacco contro i tifosi dello United, come se si trattasse di proteggere i tifosi della Roma da noi. Qui c'è qualcosa che decisamente non va e noi vogliamo andare a fondo". Per questo i tifosi del Manchester United stanno preparando un dossier da inviare all'Uefa per denunciare le aggressioni subite dalla polizia. E anche la società si muove: il Manchester United ha annunciato che indagherà su ciò che è accaduto dentro e fuori dallo stadio.
E anche la stampa inglese non lesina critiche. "A prescindere dai problemi che il Manchester United ha avuto in campo - scrive il Times - la visita del club allo stadio Olimpico di Roma sarà ricordata per la violenza inflitta ai suoi tifosi fuori dal campo e per la mano pesante della polizia che ha provocato altri feriti all'interno dell'impianto. La polizia ha effettuato cariche nel settore che ospitava i tifosi dello United, in una riedizione del trattamento riservato ai tifosi dell'Inghilterra nello stesso stadio in un match di qualificazione ai Mondiali del 1998". In quell'occasione, infatti, i tifosi inglesi vennero picchiati dalle forze dell'ordine. Un comportamento che venne stigmatizzato anche dalle autorità inglesi.
"La polizia italiana ci ha attaccato - è il racconto di uno dei tifosi dello United, David Pearce riportato dal sito della Bbc - Ho provato ad aiutare una ragazza che era caduta giù e uno dei poliziotti mi ha colpito con un manganello. Era un pandemonio, è stato terribile".
Durissimo, infine, il tabloid The Sun che attacca gli agenti in servizio allo stadio: "Un agente è stato visto colpire dieci volte un tifoso. Un altro fan ha avuto bisogno dell'intervento di due amici per rialzarsi". Il tutto ripreso dalle telecamere. Negli scontri, stavolta all'esterno dell'impianto, è rimasto coinvolto anche un fotografo del Sun, il 45enne Jim Clarke. Una "gang col volto coperto" gli ha strappato la macchina fotografica da 4000 sterline. "Pensavo che mi avrebbero picchiato - ha raccontato - e temevo per la mia incolumità".
ROME
(Reuters) - Rome's top public security official denied police used excessive
force at Wednesday's Champions League match between AS Roma and Manchester
United and blamed violent English fans for starting the trouble.
His
comments come as European football's top governing body opened an investigation
into the clashes that left 18 fans -- 14 English and four Italians -- injured
during the evening.
United
and their fans complained about what they said were "indiscriminate beatings"
meted out by Italian police.
But
Rome's Prefect Achille Serra, the government official responsible for public
security, told Reuters the entire episode lasted only two minutes during
which police were forced to intervene after English fans trampled past
stewards.
"The
attack was started by the English fans -- by a part of the English fans,
we're not generalising -- a group of the violent ones," he said.
"The
other day, Bayern Munich came to Milan. And nothing happened. And a few
days ago, Lyon came and nothing happened. A while ago, Valencia came, and
nothing happened. The Ukrainians came, and nothing happened," he said.
"Perhaps
some English groups that sometimes create problems in Italy and sometimes
create problems abroad should examine their own conscience."
Serra
earlier told ANSA news agency three English fans had been held for disorderly
conduct inside Rome's Olympic Stadium.
DISTRESSING
SCENES
The
British Embassy, which said it was worried about the situation, confirmed
11 United fans had been taken to hospital after the game, which Rome won
2-1. Two were kept in overnight.
Italian
and British police are working together to figure out the right version
of events, Italy's interior ministry said.
In
a statement UEFA said it was "currently gathering evidence and will be
studying the official reports of the referee, delegate and security officer
in detail before announcing any further action."
In
England, Manchester United called on the British government to examine
the incidents surrounding the trouble.
"Distressing
scenes witnessed in the Stadio Olimpico last night shocked everyone at
Old Trafford," the club said, urging supporters who attended the game to
provide evidence.
"In
what the club views as a severe over-reaction, local police handed out
indiscriminate beatings to United supporters.
"In
these circumstances, neither Manchester United nor AS Roma is able to call
the police to account."
INSULTS TRADED
Trouble
inside the stadium began after Roma took the lead just before halftime
when rival fans traded insults and threw objects from one section of the
ground to the other.
Television
pictures showed Italian police lashing out at United supporters with batons,
leaving several bleeding heavily from head wounds.
One
policeman was shown raining blows on a supporter who lay motionless on
the ground.
"The
police just went in indiscriminately hitting anyone and everybody, it didn't
matter whether they were old people, young people, men, women, whatever,
they just hit everyone," United fan Mick Thorne told Reuters TV.
One
United supporters' club said it would complain to UEFA and asked fans for
eyewitness accounts of the clashes.
"The
Italian police were stationed on our side of the fence, in attack formation
against United fans, in a way that only made sense if they were trying
to protect the Roma fans from us," the Independent Manchester United Supporters'
Association said on its Web site (www.imusa.org).
"There
is something very wrong here and IMUSA aims to get to the bottom of it."
Some
clashes occurred even before the match started. United fan Stephen Fitzsimons
said he and two friends were stabbed by six blade-bearing Roma fans as
they entered the stadium.
"I'm
lucky to be alive. The doctor said that if it had been another 2 centimetres
I wouldn't have made the hospital," he told Reuters Television. "They all
had hats and hoods on. There was no protection whatsoever, there was not
a policeman to be seen, no police whatsoever."
United
warned fans before the match that they might be attacked in Rome, prompting
a rebuke from the city's mayor Walter Veltroni and Roma coach Luciano Spalletti.
Greater
Manchester Police said in a statement they were well capable of policing
the return leg in Manchester next Tuesday and did not expect any crowd
control problems.
(Additional
reporting by Phil Stewart, Antonella Cinelli and Eleanor Biles in Rome
and Trevor Huggins in London)
This article: http://news.scotsman.com/latest_uk.cfm?id=527102007
Last
updated: 05-Apr-07 21:37 BST
ROME
(Reuters) - The government official responsible for public security in
Rome said that police did not use excessive force to control crowd trouble
at the Champions League match between AS Roma and Manchester United on
Wednesday.
Achille
Serra, the Prefect of Rome, told the ANSA news agency: "It did not seem
to me a night of violence.
"There
were incidents before and after but they were certainly not serious.
"There
are stray groups of delinquents in all soccer clubs in the world and they
have nothing to do with the majority of good fans," he added.
In
Britain, Sky Sports News quoted him as saying that the English like to
criticize the police, with Serra adding: "the police were forced to intervene
and when you go in you have to go in strong"
Serra's
comments came as UEFA opened an investigation into the trouble which left
at least 18 fans -- 15 English supporters and three Italians -- injured
in clashes during the evening.
Serra
said that three English fans were also held for disorderly conduct inside
the Olympic Stadium.
POLICE
CLASHES
The
game, which Roma won 2-1, was over-shadowed by violent clashes between
police and fans at the stadium and earlier on Thursday the British Embassay
confirmed that 11 United fans had been taken to hospital.
In
an official statement UEFA said it was "currently gathering evidence and
will be studying the official reports of the referee, delegate and security
officer in detail before announcing any further action."
In
England, Manchester United called on the British government to examine
the incidents surrounding the trouble.
In
a statement, United said: "Distressing scenes witnessed in the Stadio Olimpico
last night shocked everyone at Old Trafford.
Rome
official plays down claims of police force "In what the club views as a
severe over-reaction, local police handed out indiscriminate beatings to
United supporters.
"In
these circumstances, neither Manchester United nor AS Roma is able to call
the police to account.
"As
a result, the club warmly welcomes the government examination of the incident
and will collect witness statements from fans to submit to the Home Office."
The
club has also urged supporters who attended the game and wish to provide
evidence to contact them."
TRADED
INSULTS
Trouble
began inside the stadium after Roma took the lead just before halftime
when rival fans traded insults and threw objects from one section of the
ground to the other.
Television
pictures showed Italian police flailing at United supporters with batons,
leaving several of the English club's fans bleeding profusely from head
wounds.
One
policeman was shown raining blows on a supporter who lay motionless on
the ground.
"The police just went in indiscriminately hitting anyone and everybody, it didn't matter whether they were old people, young people, men, women, whatever they just hit everyone," United fan Mick Thorne told Reuters TV.
"It was pretty violent, all the English fans were targeted, none of the Italian people were hit by the police because they were the other side of the fence," said United fan Tommy Taylor.
One United supporters' club said it would complain to UEFA and asked fans for eyewitness accounts of the clashes.
"The
Italian police were stationed on our side of the fence, in attack formation
against United fans, in a way that only made sense if they were trying
to protect the Roma fans from us," the Independent Manchester United Supporters'
Association said on its Web site (www.imusa.org).
"There
is something very wrong here and IMUSA aims to get to the bottom of it."
United warned fans before the match that they might be attacked in Rome, prompting a rebuke from the city's mayor Walter Veltroni and Roma coach Luciano Spalletti.
NO PROTECTION
A graphic description of just what United warned their fans against was provided by stabbed United fan Stephen Fitzsimons in an interview with Reuters Television.
He says he could have been killed and had no protection from the police.
"I'm lucky to be alive. The doctor said that if it had been another 2 centimeters I wouldn't have made the hospital."
"There was a group of us, six of us, we went sightseeing and we had something to eat and got a taxi down to the stadium.
"We asked the taxi driver to drop us off where the Manchester United fans would be entering the stadium but the taxi driver dropped us where the Roma fans go in.
"As we were walking down towards the stadium two or three United fans were walking past and they said be careful all the Roma fans are about with blades and just as he said that I was hit from behind on the ear and I dropped down on the floor.
"As I got back up at least six Roma fans all stood there with blades and they attacked us. There was myself, my friend Mike Skarrett and his nephew Stephen Skarrett - we were all stabbed last night.
"They all had hats and hoods on. There was no protection whatsoever, there was not a policeman to be seen, no police whatsoever."
Greater Manchester Police said in a statement they were well capable of policing the return leg in Manchester next Tuesday and did not expect any crowd control problems.
(Additional reporting by Trevor Huggins in London and Eleanor Biles in Rome)
BBC NI journalist Joel Taggart said he was punched to the ground by a Roma fan as he approached the ticket gate.
He said police also "took out" fans indiscriminately inside the ground.
He said three other fans he talked to entering the ground said they had been ambushed by Roma "ultra" fans, one of them being hit with a miniature baton.
Mr Taggart said the clashes with police happened after Roma scored their first goal and their fans started to taunt United fans on the other side of a perspex partition.
We saw women being beaten out of the way, there were men, children - whoever was there was knocked out of the way
Joel Taggart
"I can only assume that the police felt there was a chance they were going to force their way through the fence and they just stormed down the stairwell on the United side of the fence knocking people over, basically trying to get in between the two sides," he said.
This then "provoked a response" among the United fans, Mr Taggart said.
"There was then 10 or 15 minutes of the police trying to regain ground and they just indiscriminately took out anybody who was in their way," he said.
"It was good fortune that we weren't in that particular area of the ground - we saw women being beaten out of the way, there were men, children - whoever was there was knocked out of the way."
He
said some United fans then started fighting with the police - some throwing
chairs - leading to about 10 minutes of sustained clashes.
This Northern Irish Utd fan said he was hit with a police baton while helping a female supporter
Mr Taggart said missiles had also been thrown by both sets of fans during the game, and the whole incident had been very frightening.
"It was so indiscriminate, I think that was the most frightening thing," he said.
"It sort of edged closer and closer towards you and you feared even a crush situation because the people who started the game standing in the stairwells, standing in the aisles, had absolutely nowhere to go."
Baton
Another Northern Irish fan at the match said he was hit on the head with a police baton while trying to help a female fan.
He also accused the police of indiscriminate attacks.
Rome police said 18 United fans and two Roma fans needed medical treatment as a result of incidents inside and outside the stadium.
The city's head of police, Achille Serra, insisted the police action was a "justified response", and said there would be no inquiry unless he was shown evidence of any alleged police brutality.
UEFA has announced they will launch an investigation into the night's events.
Before the game Manchester United fans were warned in letters and on the club's website to avoid certain areas of the city as they could be attacked by Roma's hardcore "ultra" fans.
Three
Middlesbrough fans were stabbed and 10 others hurt during fights with Roma
fans at an Uefa Cup quarter-final last year.
Cops wearing helmets and
protective armour rained down blow after blow on fallen fans.
One officer was seen smashing his baton down on one supporter TEN times. Another cop also hit the sprawling fan twice.
Another
United fan needed two friends to help him stand up.
THUG
... United lout hurling seat and, inset,
teargas
cloud in stadium
His face covered in blood, he looked dazed and confused — staggering as he got to his feet.
Earlier Reds supporters were hurt in clashes with Roma’s notorious Ultra fans around the city.
At least 18 Brits were taken to hospital, with two kept in overnight. Many suffered knife wounds. Two Roma fans were also treated.
In the Stadio Olimpico for the Champions League quarter-final first leg match, goading from both sets of fans seemed to trigger the violence. An estimated 4,000 United supporters took their seats two hours early and rival supporters began throwing missiles before the kick-off.
Tension returned after United midfielder Paul Scholes was sent off shortly after the half-hour mark.
It escalated when Roma scored in the 44th minute with both sets of fans throwing missiles at each other across a Perspex barrier.
Roma yobs were allowed to run riot as cops looked on. The thugs charged the barrier to jeer and shout insults at Reds fans. The cops — who were all on the Brits’ side of the partition — did not try to stop them. They steamed in only when the English started retaliating.
When Wayne Rooney equalised in the 60th minute, missiles were lobbed by Roma yobs.
The Italians rallied to the barrier to smash their fists against it.
Announcements threatened to halt the match, which Roma won 2-1. United fans were kept in the ground for 90 minutes after the game.
TV
analyst David Platt, the former England captain, slammed the brutality.
He said: “You can’t condone what the Italian police are doing.
FLARE-UP
... baton-wielding Italian riot police clash with United fans and, right,
United
supporters
battered to the ground
“It’s one thing stopping any trouble — but they are fuelling the fire because they are fighting.”
United fan Stuart Gallagher, 29, fled the ground when cops attacked.
The electrician from Hemel Hempstead, Herts, at the game with girlfriend Debbie Rogers, 23, said: “The police just wanted trouble. They were really psyched up.
“One
girl got pushed by cops down a flight of steps. As she lay on concrete,
they hit her on the chest with batons — they were animals.”
DO
YOU KNOW THIS MAN? ... If you know him or were
at
the match call The Sun on 020 7782 4105
Before the game, Sun photographer Jim Clarke became a victim as he tried to photograph the clashes. Jim, 45, was booted in the stomach by one thug — and then had £4,000 worth of camera equipment stolen by a masked gang.
The yobs wielded huge sticks and wrapped belts around their knuckles as they ripped the equipment from the Sun man’s neck. Jim said: “I thought I was going to be battered. I really feared for my safety.”
Fan Kerry Davies, 30, added: “Before the game we were attacked by Roma fans with machetes and knives — but police tear-gassed us.”
Fans heading home early this morning told of their experiences.
Jermaine Ward, 18, from Manchester, had cuts on his head and face. Speaking at Rome airport he said: “The police beat me just because I was standing in an aisle. They smashed me seven times on the head.”
Joe Leishman, 33, who had an arm in a sling, said: “Four cops whacked me with batons. It was shocking.”
United had posted a warning on their website this week, instructing fans to avoid certain areas of the city and not to use the city’s metro.
David Taylor, whose tour company First Option took 2,000 fans to the game, said: “Every time we come to Rome the same thing happens.”
UEFA announced they will hold an inquiry.