Midnight mass mayhem for West Ham and Palermo fans
Twenty British fans detained in Sicily and six injured after prejudicially motivated riot.
T-shirts bearing rascist remarks fanned the flames for civil uproar and mass rioting last night in Palermo, Sicily, as West Ham fans and Palermo supporters locked horns in a display of football hooliganism, the likes of which have never been seen before in this region.
Bottles, cans, glasses and chairs were hurled through the air for more than an hour. During the disturbance, more than 500 rioters got involved and police were also attacked when they attempted to intervene.
T-shirts bearing the slogan "The Hammers vs. The Mafia" - a vulgar reference to the Italian criminal underworld, were the main cause of tensions running high in the Sicilian capital last night.
The Sicilian governor, Salvatore Cuffaro, decried the T-shirt gesture as "an offence to all Sicilians", also declaring that "freedom is our thing".
Twenty West Ham fans are due to appear in an Italian court today after last night's events.
Bottles, cans, glasses and chairs were hurled through the air for more than an hour. During the disturbance, more than 500 rioters got involved and police were also attacked when they attempted to intervene.
T-shirts bearing the slogan "The Hammers vs. The Mafia" - a vulgar reference to the Italian criminal underworld, were the main cause of tensions running high in the Sicilian capital last night.
The Sicilian governor, Salvatore Cuffaro, decried the T-shirt gesture as "an offence to all Sicilians", also declaring that "freedom is our thing".
Twenty West Ham fans are due to appear in an Italian court today after last night's events.