Rome brawl becomes diplomatic incident

A brawl at the end of Roma's Champions League match against Turkey's Galatasaray turned into a diplomatic incident on Thursday when Ankara's foreign minister accused Italian police of behaving like Fascists.

Fighting involving players, officials and riot police broke out after the 1-1 draw between the Italian champions and the Istanbul club in group B of Europe's leading club competition.

As bad as the violence was, it almost paled by comparison to the verbal war that broke out between Italian and Turkish diplomats, politicians, players, fans and newspapers.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ismail Cem said in Ankara that the behaviour of the police recalled the days of Fascist Italy and a spokesman for the Turkish side accused Italian police of behaving like pro-Roma hooligans.

Cem blamed the turmoil on Italian players and police.

"Watching from television and looking at the newspapers, I thought I was watching the time of Fascist Mussolini and the Mussolini police, not Europe in 2002," Cem told reporters.

Benito Mussolini ruled Italy for more than two decades as dictator before being executed in 1945 shortly before his German allies were defeated in the Second World War.

"A police that attacks and truncheons so pitilessly, goes into the changing rooms and attacks our players and lays out our people again as if what they did on the edge of the pitch was not enough could only be Mussolini's police," Cem said.

In Ankara, Italian ambassador Vittorio Surdo bristled.

"We're talking about individuals who may have made mistakes. Individuals. So there is no need to refer to the Italian police as Fascist police," he said. "Frankly we find it quite out of place and we hope this description will never be repeated."

Surdo has pulled out of an Italian work and culture event in Izmir on Friday, obliging organisers to postpone it for a month.

UEFA said it was opening an investigation and Turkish club officials repeated accusations of Italian police brutality.

"We weren't facing police. They were practically Roma fans, a group of hooligans," Turkish team spokesman Abdurrahim Albayrak told reporters.

Thirteen Italian police were injured in the brawl, officials said. Police said they would give magistrates a detailed report of the incidents, including video footage and photographs.

IN PAIN

A photographer saw two Turkish players in pain on the ground in the tunnel but it was not clear how they were hurt.

Necati Utkan, Turkey's ambassador to Italy, said the brawl was shocking because of the people involved.

"What is totally unheard of and unseen is that this kind of clash involves the security forces," he told Reuters Television.

La Gazzetta dello Sport, Italy's largest sports newspaper, said the brawl smacked of "saloon" behaviour.

"It's a good thing that the uniforms issued to players do not include holsters and pistols otherwise we would be counting the victims," La Gazzetta said.

In the pitchside brawl, Galatasaray players had to stay on the field before order was partially restored. They dodged bottles and coins before descending into the changing rooms.

Riot police struggled to control players who also clashed with officials in amazing scenes. Eventually about 40 police lined up to form a tunnel to escort the players off.

PAPERS OUTRAGED

Turkish newspapers condemned the Italian authorities.

"Disgrace, Italian style", ran a front page headline in Hurriyet, while Aksam daily declared: "Mussolini's descendants".

The trouble seemed to centre around Roma's Brazilian midfielder Lima, who once played for a Turkish side and seemed to take offence at something a Galatasaray player had said.

Argentina forward Gabriel Batistuta clashed with Galatasaray's Emre Asik, according to La Gazzetta, and said he lost control.

"I shouldn't have done that, not in front of the cameras, anyway. It was a bad example to set, and I apologise," he said.

Fellow Roma forward Marco Delvecchio said: "Lima was being insulted ... He understands Turkish well and he reacted and then (Asik) Emre made a rude gesture."

Goalkeeper Francesco Antonioli said the Turks played rough.

"It was intimidation throughout the whole match. Lima's reaction was, for many, exaggerated but there was obviously something behind it. There was not only verbal intimidation but I believe there was also a well-placed kick," he said.

Galatasaray coach Mircea Lucescu believed the Italian press and police had incited his players.

"I read (in Wednesday's) Gazzetta Dello Sport that my players are butchers without talent. What makes a newspaper write something like that before a game of this level?

"It needs to be careful because that's the sort of thing that leads to violence," Lucescu said.