[lfc-news] Fights, flares and little forgiveness - Guardian

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The Guardian, 14 April 2005
Fights, flares and little forgiveness
Dominic Fifield at the Stadio delle Alpi

A banner was unfurled on the curva sud an hour before kick-off here
reminding, poignantly: "Easy to speak . . . difficult to pardon."
Painful memories of the Heysel Stadium disaster hung heavy in this arena
last night, with the local mood summed up neatly in those simple white
letters on a red background. For many in Turin, it has not been possible
to forget.

This was the first competitive meeting between these sides in this city
since 39 Juventus supporters lost their lives when a wall collapsed
after a charge by Liverpool fans before the 1985 European Cup final.
Attempts to cultivate "amicizia" (friendship) in the first leg at
Anfield last week had been greeted with derision by some Juve fans,
their ultras turning their backs on the ceremony aimed at
reconciliation. For a while here last night, 20 years of simmering
enmity threatened to boil over into violence.

There were ugly scenes both inside and outside the ground, with flares
fired into the celebrating visiting supporters at the end as the reality
of Liverpool's unlikely progress sank in. That maintained the snarling
mood of the night and visiting fans were kept in the ground long after
the final whistle.

Before kick-off a group of about 50 Juventus fans wielding batons
clashed with riot police outside the stadium. The carabinieri, pelted
with bottles and flares, took over 30 minutes to disperse the
troublemakers - part of a larger group of about 150 locals - using tear
gas. Two vehicles were left in flames. The offenders, wearing scarves
over their faces to avoid identification, broke up into smaller groups
as two police helicopters surveyed the scene.

Yet, though disturbances had been grimly anticipated outside the ground,
events inside were shameful. A pitiful number of police and stewards had
been stationed in the curva nord and they were utterly incapable of
preventing the torrent of missiles flung initially from home fans over
no-man's land into the lower section of the Liverpool support. The
visitors responded, bottles arrowing back over the divide into the
taunting Italians, with an extra line of riot police appearing only once
kick-off approached. More stewards were belatedly deployed once the game
was under way. Liverpool fans' mood was not improved by a banner
referring to the Hillsborough disaster: "15.4.89. Sheffield. God Exists."

By then a message had twice been issued over the public address system,
in Italian and English, warning that anyone caught throwing objects
faced between six months and three years in prison. By the time that
message was reissued at half-time the barrage had resumed, with a flare
spouting fumes from the open terracing in front of the Juve fans.

Perhaps the scenes were to be expected. This tie was a nightmarish
exercise in logistics for the authorities. Police had tightened security
and drafted in undercover agents to help keep the peace, with the
majority of English fans bussed to the stadium last night from
accommodation well outside Turin.

Many were taken straight from the airport to restaurants and bars in
neighbouring towns in order to separate the two sets of fans. The 72
hour alcohol ban apparently imposed in Turin centre - it applied onlyto
bars and not hotels or supermarkets - dissuaded others from venturing
into areas which might otherwise have proved perilous.

Even so, one fan had been attacked in a city pub by five Juventus
supporters wielding bottles and baseball bats. "There was an argument
and a Liverpool fan was hit on the head with a bat by one of the Juve
fans," confirmed Cecilia Tartoni, a spokeswoman for Turin police. "The
Liverpool fan received medical attention in the pub." He was later
deemed fit enough to attend the game.

"Some 20 Juventus fans were stopped by the police," added Tartoni. "We
searched vehicles and their homes and found baseball bats and other
weapons. Eight have been detained for possession of arms."

That set a worrying tone which lingered into the match, for all that the
majority of fans treated the memories of Heysel with much more dignity.
Banners at the opposite end, where hoardings bearing the date 1985 are
permanent, read: "The 39 angels look down with pride on us tonight" and
"What is deep in the heart never dies".

Italian football could have done without last night's darker incidents.
After Tuesday's disgraceful scenes in Milan, when Internazionale fans
pelted the Milan goalkeeper Dida with flares, prompting the abandonment
of their Champions League quarter-final, the prime minister Silvio
Berlusconi had called for "drastic measures" to combat the upsurge of
violence.

Berlusconi met the interior minister Giuseppe Pisanu to discuss the
problem and later warned: "There is a clear risk of even more serious
incidents in future, a risk which must be avoided by all possible
means." Here last night, with emotions running high, risk became reality
yet again.

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