<span class="titolo">Rome Rioting, Police Plead Not Guilty Against Murder</span></p> <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'></p> <span class="sommario">The situation is fluid in Italy, and particularly in Rome, in the face of Lazio fan Gabriele Sandri being killed by the police.</span></p> Sardini was shot in the back of the neck bya police officer - who was 'supposed' to be firing in the air to disperse a mob in Arezzo - and football fans have since been ragingagainst thelaw enforcers.</p> The city of Rome is experiencing the worst of the crisis, with Lazio and Romafans both coming together and expressing their disgust with the police.</p> There is an air of revenge around, one threatening to explode into more serious trouble, and thecornered police officials have released a statement in a bid to arrest the problem.</p> Said the statement from authorities in Arezzo: “At 09.10am two traffic police cars from the Battifolle district were alerted by the sound of shouting and noises coming from the north car park of the motorway service station.</p> “Realising there was a violent brawl between the occupants of at least three vehicles, the agents intervened by activating their siren and closing in on the scene.</p> “One of the agents, in a bid to induce the brawlers to desist, fired two shots."</p> The second of these was fired into the mob, and not in the air, and found Sardini.</p> Continued the statement: "These were fired so that the fight that had broken out between a group of people – who had not been identified as football fans – did not degenerate into something more serious.</p> “Soon afterwards, one of the cars with five people on board continued its journey to the Arezzo toll booth where they asked for help from the emergency services.</p> "Medics who arrived at the scene tried to revive the man, but there was nothing they could do.”</p> Sardini's lawyer and his brother, nonetheless, have launched allegations of "murder" against theofficer who fired. Police cars have been set alight, and tear gas had to shelled out outside the Stadio Olimpico in Rome last evening.</p> </div></p>
