The city of Rome has condemned the
Fascist salutes and chants of 'Duce', hailing Benito Mussolini,
that were performed by a group of hard-core 'ultra' fans at a
Munich beer hall before Tuesday's Champions League match against
Bayern Munch, while other supporters of the club also blasted
the shameful scenes shown in social-media posts.
Rome Sports Chief Alessandro Onorato said what had happened at
the Hofbraeuhaus beer hall, where Adolf Hitler gave a speech at
the founding of the Nazi Party in 1920, was "shameful"
He said the images "damage the image of the club, of all the
supporters and of Rome".
The Lazio e Libertà supporters association expressed dismay too
in a Facebook post.
"It's a shame that a few history dunces try to soil us all and
the club at every oppportunity," it said.
Many ordinary Lazio fans used much stronger language to condemn
what happened in social media posts.
Munich police are investigating the incident
Lazio, like many Italian teams, has a significant number of
far-right supporters among its fans.
They have been behind a series of shameful acts of racism and
anti-Semitism in the past and have given the club a bad name.
Club sources said that the fans involved in the Hofbraeuhaus
incident "do not represent us in the slightest".
Onorato also called on Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi to
intervene to stop violent fan groups saying the Munich incident
and other recent ones by the fans of other clubs showed that
"enough is enough".
"After the fascist chants of some Lazio fans in Munich, a
racist, anti-Semitic chant sung by Roma fans on their return
from the away match in Monza has now also hit the Internet,"
Onorato said.
"It is another shameful episode which highlights a terrifying
mix of racism, anti-Semitism, Fascism and violence that has been
dirtying the world of healthy sport for too long, damaging
football clubs, the vast majority of fans and the name of our
city".
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