ROME (AFP) — Italy's football authorities decided Monday to suspend second and third division matches at the weekend in the wake of the fatal police shooting of a fan that sparked widespread riots.
First division matches are unaffected since none were scheduled this weekend.
At least 40 police required hospital treatment after the running battles in several cities on Sunday which newspapers dubbed the return of the "nightmare" of hooliganism.
The trouble started after Gabriele Sandri, a Lazio fan, was shot in the neck by a policeman while in a car at a motorway rest area where there had been fighting between Lazio and Juventus supporters, according to police.
The 31-year-old policeman, who has not been named, told a newspaper he shot Sandri, a Rome-based DJ, by accident. On Monday he was facing manslaughter charges. Sandri's family has called the killing murder.
Sports Minister Giovanna Melandri urged football authorities meeting Monday evening to take tough action, "even possibly suspending the championship over the next few weeks."
Speaking after an emergency meeting of government officials and football authorities, Melandri said: "Everyone feels the need for strong and meaningful decisions from the world of football."
Meanwhile the policeman was facing manslaughter charges.
Vincenzo Giacobbe, police chief of Arezzo near where Sandri was killed, said tougher charges might be laid with numerous witnesses saying he had "probably" aimed at the tyres of the car Sandri was in.
The policeman told the Corriere della Sera daily that he accidentally fired the fatal shot as he was running, just seconds after firing a warning round in the air.
"I was not aiming anywhere, I was not pointing at anyone," he said.
"The first shot I fired in the air and the second went off as I was running. What a fool. Now I know what happened, I am devastated. Now I have destroyed two families, that of this boy and mine," he added.
Interior Minister Giuliano Amato called the incident a "tragic error" and said the "exact dynamic of the facts" was still under investigation.
Italy's sports security watchdog responded to the latest violence Monday by announcing that football fans identified as violent will no longer be allowed to travel in groups.
"Public safety must take absolute prevalence over all other legitimate interests," the watchdog agency said on its website.
Police would be allowed to stop matches from starting or halt ongoing matches "every time incidents occur, even far from the stadium," it said.
Starting March 1 all stadiums with a capacity of more than 7,500 spectators will have to have properly trained and selected stewards or be required to hold matches behind closed doors, it added.
Italian authorities had already ordered heightened security back in February after a policeman was killed in clashes with supporters in Sicily.
The furious reaction to Sunday's shooting saw fans across Italy turn on police targets. Three championship matches had to be called off.
Hundreds of fans, many masked and carrying batons, attacked a Rome police barracks, burning a bus and other vehicles, while another crowd looted the headquarters of the Italian National Olympic Committee.
One policeman was seriously injured after being struck with an iron bar, according to the ANSA news agency.
In Milan, some 400 fans threw stones at the police headquarters, while outside the San Siro stadium Lazio and Inter Milan supporters chanted anti-police slogans.
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