Italian Soccer Fan Gunned Down By Police During Scuffle, Fans Riot

ROME — "A police officer accidentally shot and killed a soccer fan Sunday while trying to break up a fight by a Tuscan highway between supporters of rival teams, authorities said. Enraged by the killing, hundreds of fans rioted in Rome, attacking a police station.

Fans stormed the yard of a police station near the Rome's Olympic Stadium, hurled stones at passing police cars, and smashed windows at the nearby Italian Olympic Committee headquarters.

Hundreds of youths, many with their faces covered by scarves and ski masks, dragged metal barricades and trash bins to block off one end of a bridge spanning the Tiber near the station. The rioters smashed a window in the police station and set a police vehicle on fire inside the gate.

Another fatal "accident". Lets have a look at how it went down...

"Arezzo police, reading a statement, said officers in two patrol cars who were stopped on the opposite side of the highway turned on their sirens when they "heard yelling, screaming" and realized the occupants of three cars in the rest area were fighting.

When the clash continued, the police fired warning shots into the air. All three cars began to return the highway, police said, adding that one of the occupants of the vehicles "took a shot." The car with Gabrielle Sandri in it drove a few miles to the next exit to seek medical help. An ambulance crew was unable to revive him, police said.

They described the officer who fired the shots as a veteran but didn't provide the officer's name, and, adding that the case was under investigation, refused to answer questions.

Clashes between rival fans at rest stops are common in Italy.

Sky quoted witnesses as saying the other two cars were vans carrying Juventus fans from Naples heading to a match in Parma.

The Italian soccer federation postponed the Inter-Lazio game, and security officials in Rome canceled a Sunday night match between Roma and Cagliari. Other games on Sunday started 10 minutes late, with players and referees wearing black armbands.

Premier Romano Prodi, who was attending Mass when he was informed of the death, called fan violence "very worrisome."

Its worrisome when kids get into shoving matches with one another over a sporting event, but no mention of the police shooting them?

"The killing also prompted clashes between fans and police in Bergamo, where AC Milan was playing Atalanta. The match was stopped after seven minutes when Atalanta fans tried to break through a barrier and storm onto the field."

Anyone with but a modicum of familiarity with firearms understands that guns are not designed to be warning devices. Un-holstering the weapon then placing ones finger on the trigger means deadly force is intended, and when deadly force then occurs it is absolute nonsense to refer to it as an accident.

Firing warning shots went out with cattle drives in the late 1800's. Such behavior can result in far more harm than good, and we simply must return to the simple understanding that guns are meant to kill people, and in instances such as this it is no accident when they do. There was a time when I would have been the first one to dissuade insurrection against sworn officers of the law. This happened in Italy. Here the constabulary bursts into homes and kills grandmothers and calls such behavior accidental as well. All the Italians, or ANY of the European nations need do is to begin handing down serious jailtime to unruly fans. Europe has but one spectator sport of value to the fans so of course every game is serious to them, but hooliganism should be frowned upon and met with swift disciplinary action.

Regarding the clashes between citizens and the police, THEIR constitutions do not guarantee the people the RIGHT to fight deadly force with deadly force so you can imagine the frustration of living in police states.

Ours USED to.

Begging the question as to which is worse. Never having the right to begin with or watching as it is taken away, inch by inch.