A police officer was placed under investigation for possible manslaughter in the shooting death of a soccer fan that provoked riots across Italy.
Authorities also detained four people on Monday suspected in the rioting in Rome, where angry fans attacked a police barracks near the stadium and the headquarters of the Italian Olympic Committee.
Eight fans were jailed in Bergamo for alleged violence and injury to public officials when fans attempted to knock down a barrier during the Atalanta-AC Milan match on Sunday, police said.
Meanwhile, sports authorities in Rome drew up anti-violence measures after the latest fan violence.
Gabriele Sandri, a 26-year-old disc jockey from Rome, was sitting in a car that had stopped at a highway rest area near Arezzo in Tuscany when he was fatally shot in the neck by a bullet fired by a police officer.
Arezzo police chief Vincenzo Giacobbe said a policeman was being investigated for possible manslaughter.
On Sunday, police in Arezzo said that the officer, from a position on the other side of the highway, had fired two warning shots in the air to break up a scuffle at the rest stop. But on Monday, they gave a different version of what they have called a "tragic error."
National police chief Antonio Manganelli promised to get to the truth of the shooting, criticizing the policeman for an "inept" action.
Initial reports said police intervened to stop a scuffle between Sandri's group of Lazio fans -- headed to see their club play at Inter Milan -- and a group of Juventus fans, also traveling north to see their team play.
On Monday, authorities raised doubts that fan rivalry had fueled the fight.
"[The officer] intervened to calm down what appeared to be a fight," Giacobbe said. "He didn't know if they were fans. Another thing to clarify is why it was called a fight between fans. We think so, but [the officers on the scene] didn't know it. They saw a fight beginning, yelling, banging on a car."
On Monday, Giacobbe said the fatal shot apparently was fired "horizontally," across four lanes of highway.
Milan daily Corriere della Sera quoted the policeman as saying the second shot went off accidentally.
Sandri's death forced the postponement of two Serie A matches and the suspension of another as clashes erupted in cities including Milan and Bergamo. Enraged by the shooting, rioters smashed windows and hurled stones at police cars.
In the capital, violent fans rioted into the night, setting trash bins and police vans on fire.
About 75 police officers were injured in Rome, police said. The Italian Olympic Committee -- attacked along with nearby police barracks -- estimated damage to its headquarters at about 100,000 euros (US$147,000).
Late on Monday, the soccer federation said it would suspend games set for Sunday, when Serie B and C play. The Serie A isn't scheduled to play this weekend because the national team has a match against Scotland.
A national watchdog body for soccer violence announced on Monday that large groups of violent fans would be blocked from traveling to certain games. The monitoring body already labels games by risk level, and visiting fans will be barred from traveling to high-risk matches until a system of fan identity cards can be instituted.
Also, by March 1, all stadiums with a capacity of more than 7,500 will have to provide match stewards, the monitoring body announced. Otherwise, the games will be held behind closed doors.
But all visiting fans have already been barred from several games this season, and stewards were decided on, following violence at a Champions League game between Manchester United and AS Roma last season.
Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon indicated that some of the reaction was out of proportion.
"If an old lady with a soccer scarf around her neck is robbed and killed, should we stop the league?" Buffon was quoted as saying by ANSA at Italy's training camp in Florence.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB