At approximately midnight last night West Ham fans lost their temper with Palermo supporters at last nights Uefa Cup Match. At least twenty people have been arrested due to the violence that occured in "Palermo's Teatro Massimo" and a further six people were injured. The Palermo police were stunned at the amount of people who were involved due to the fact that up to five hundred were 'full-on fighting'. Acording to an eye-witness "West Ham fans behaved like animals..."

It took police more than an hour to take control of the situation and because of their effort to get the fighting under control up to seventeen civilions, including the police, were rushed to hospital with injuries. When the police finally managed to stop the fighting three buses carried the West Ham fans away from the city centre. Palermo police spokesman, Virgilio Alberelli said "When officers tried to to brake up the fighting they came under missile attack." He also explained that " We had already been already been alert ahead of tonight's match but now we will be increasing security."


Due to the fighting, the streets of Palermo are covered in glass as bottles, cans, glasses and even the odd chair were being thrown by the two rivals. It was obviously a huge battle between the two competing groups and it's not surprising the amount of people who have been injured due to it. Although witnesses declare that it was the West Ham fans who were  
acting inappropriately and "searching for anyone to fight", it is not the first time that Palermo's streets have been trashed due to football's extreme fans. Only last week Palermo supporters 'disagreed' with Catania fans after their Serie A match. As Palermo's city centre is being swept and cleaned, we are faced with the dilemna of whether West Ham's fans were right or wrong...