The prefect of Rome Franco Gabrielli says the number of police deployed to the Rome derby last year was ‘immoral’.
Lazio and Roma Ultras have threatened to boycott this weekend’s Derby della Capitale by leaving the Curva Nord and Sud empty in protest at new security measures.
Barriers have been placed through the centre of the sections that house the capital clubs’ most passionate supporters, prompting outrage from fans.
The prefect of Rome Franco Gabrielli says the number of police deployed to the Rome derby last year was ‘immoral’.
Lazio and Roma Ultras have threatened to boycott this weekend’s Derby della Capitale by leaving the Curva Nord and Sud empty in protest at new security measures.
Barriers have been placed through the centre of the sections that house the capital clubs’ most passionate supporters, prompting outrage from fans.
Gabrielli spoke about the ongoing standoff, calling on fans to ‘demonstrate the guarantee of safety through their behaviour.’
“I wouldn’t like a Rome derby with empty Curvas, it’s a time for participation and the absence of fans in the Curva would certainly not be positive,” he said on the television programme ‘Il Processo del Lunedi’.
“The commissioner and the police are working on this hypothesis, but I hope it’ll be avoided.
“We’ve listened to fans of Roma and Lazio and some of them wonder why, instead of barriers, video surveillance hasn’t been considered.
“I find it a bit immoral that in the derby last year 1,700 men were deployed by the State to guarantee the security of a football match, and then I hear people complain that there is no police patrol going around.
“If people return to the Curvas, they will go back to the stadium and demonstrate through their behaviour that security and safety can be guaranteed in another way.
“I don’t believe that anyone is so obtuse as to not review their own position.
“If instead there is an arm wrestle, it’s clear that they will be the losers.”