Italy Resists Pressure From Soccer Clubs

Italian Interior Minister Giuliano Amato stresses a point during his message at the Lower Chamber of the Italian Parliament in Rome, Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2007. Amato vowed Tuesday to resist what he said was pressure from soccer clubs and to ensure safety in and outside stadiums, days after a police officer died in rioting at a top match in Sicily. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino) (Alessandra Tarantino - AP)

ROME -- Italy's interior minister said he would resist pressure from soccer clubs and not reopen stadiums to the public until he could ensure safety, days after a police officer died in rioting at a Serie A match in Sicily.

Ensuring public safety "is more important than economic interests that demand that the show go on as if nothing happened," Giuliano Amato said Tuesday in parliament.

The rioting Friday at Catania halted all league games last weekend, and officials have threatened to extend the suspension. A decision on when to resume play would be made Wednesday, the Italian soccer federation said.

Play could resume this weekend, reports said, but according to emergency security measures agreed upon by government and soccer officials, many games might be held behind closed doors in stadiums that don't meet security requirements.

Club officials from Serie A and B clubs met Tuesday for informal talks in Rome and said they wanted to resume play this weekend _ with spectators.

"We'd like this closed-doors measure to be eliminated," Palermo President Maurizio Zamparini said after the meeting.

"We want the government to listen to us," Zamparini added. "We will give all the guarantees so that order can be ensured, but we can't play behind closed doors."

Cabinet ministers and soccer officials held an emergency meeting Monday to outline tough measures in response to Friday's violence at an all-Sicilian match between Palermo and Catania. The measures include barring soccer fans from stadiums where security requirements are not met, and barring clubs from selling blocks of tickets to visiting fans to control who enters the stadium.

Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican's No. 2 official, weighed in on the debate, urging the government to do more. "The measures are right but insufficient," he was quoted as saying by news agency ANSA.

The measures will be presented for approval at a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday.

"There's no doubt that from that world (of soccer) pressure will come that the show must go on, that soccer is a big deal," Amato said in an address to the Chamber of Deputies. "We have a duty, before our law enforcement officials and our citizens, to resist these pressures."

Amato's comments appeared to be a response to soccer league president Antonio Matarrese, whose remarks that soccer should not be halted outraged many.