The Union of Italian State Police bitterly criticised "haphazard" Liverpool policing of the game with Roma and said they expect “large groups of hooligans.”
It seems the ‘police source’ that gave news agency Ansa the figure of 1,000 expected “dangerous” visiting fans was Andrea Cecchini, representative of Italia Celere – the Union of Italian State Police.
The Union of Italian State Police bitterly criticised "haphazard" Liverpool policing of the game with Roma and said they expect “large groups of hooligans.”
It seems the ‘police source’ that gave news agency Ansa the figure of 1,000 expected “dangerous” visiting fans was Andrea Cecchini, representative of Italia Celere – the Union of Italian State Police.
“The English police come to Rome to check out the situation and dictate the rules, meanwhile there’s the genius idea of getting the Reds to train at Formello, only fuelling for days the reports of a possible union of Liverpool and Lazio ultras,” Cecchini told Il Tempo newspaper.
“We have the certainty of at the arrival of at least 1,000 English ultras, and considering the Lazio fans have in the past already twinned with violent fanbases from the Czech Republic, Croatia and Poland, the risk of a new alliance is very high.
“When these foreign fans arrive, there is no Fan Passport, no stadium ban or anything else. They can do whatever they please and we will have to escort them.
“That’s what didn’t happen in Liverpool, where the police weren’t there even an hour and a half before kick-off, there were not even barriers to separate the opposing groups of fans.
“Public order collapsed, they lacked planning and the visiting supporters had to walk towards the stadium by themselves, unescorted, in the middle of Liverpool fans.”
Italia Celere also released a statement via Cecchini on their official Twitter page on April 26, titled ‘Serious clashes in Liverpool. Italia Celere condemns the madness of the ultras and denounces the haphazard control of public order by the English police.’
The statement condemns the Roma ultras who attacked Sean Cox, leaving the 53-year-old in an induced coma with head injuries, and renews its call for tougher sentencing in Italy to act as a deterrent.
However, it then moves on to bitterly criticise the English authorities in Liverpool.
“While we condemn the actions of those few ‘fans’, we are also forced to denounce the at the very least haphazard approach to public order from the English police: All of this has so far remained under the radar, but we have well-founded reports that the only separation between the paths of English and Italian supporters was some metal barriers and two policemen, who weren’t even in anti-riot gear.
“Just as serious, and again as told to us by those present, is that there was no escort for the Roma fans and their bus service from the Port to the Stadium, even allowing the transit to go past the historic end of the English fans!
“The same situation had also occurred during the Champions League quarter-final Liverpool-Manchester City, resulting in a violent attack on the visiting team bus.
“It’s a very different situation in our stadiums, where the fans are never allowed to come into contact thanks to planning and study by the authorities and the use of police officers who are absolutely prepared and trained to face in a professional manner even the most serious situations of public order.
“That is what will happen on May 2, when in Rome there will arrive thousands of Liverpool fans, with the prediction of large groups of hooligans.”
The statement goes on to complain that Italian laws are not tough enough on ultras, before then noting “we are in Europe only on paper, so you really have to make do with whatever situation the country you are in decides to deal with, and that is dangerous, especially when dealing with the life and security of people.
“For now we can only pray and embrace the family of the injured English fans and hope, as well as his fully recovery, for a drastic intervention from the English justice system and the Italian Government.”