ROME, Sept 24 (Reuters) - Italian police have arrested 66 fans of Lazio, some of them armed with knives, machetes, clubs and knuckle-dusters, in a major crackdown on football hooligans.
Police told a news conference on Monday that the fans had
been stopped on Sunday as they set off for a Serie A match
against Atalanta in Bergamo. They were later released from
custody pending possible charges.
'We managed to avoid the worst of it,' said Lamberto
Giannini, head of the special police unit that carried out the
arrests.
Italian soccer has been beset by crowd trouble in recent
years and is still recovering from the death of a police officer
at a Serie A game in Catania in February.
Sunday's derby match between Genoa and Sampdoria was marred
by clashes between rivals fans before kick-off.
