Roma punished for Nazi symbols

Italy's Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu said football games should be suspended if any Nazi or facist symbols are on display inside the stadium

Roma were ordered to play their next Serie A home match behind closed doors at a neutral venue as punishment for the Nazi symbols displayed by their fans at last Sunday's game against Livorno.

To provoke the largely left-wing leaning Livorno fans, Roma supporters in the Olympic stadium's south stand waved flags with swastikas and held aloft an anti-semitic banner.

In addition to the one-match ban on supporters, the Italian football league's disciplinary panel also fined Roma a total of 12,000 euros (14,485 dollars).

Five thousand euros was for the Nazi symbols and the rest was for the unruly behaviour of their fans during the match, which included throwing missiles at visiting Livorno fans and lighting flares.

Livorno were given a 3,000 euro fine for their supporters' part in the clashes.

Roma's home game against Cagliari on February 8 will now be played behind closed doors at a neutral ground, which has yet to be chosen by the Italian football league.

Earlier Tuesday, Italy's Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu said football games should be suspended if any Nazi or fascist symbols are on display inside the stadium.

Under legislation brought in by Pisanu last summer, football authorities have the power to suspend games if offensive banners or flags are seen in the stands.

No match has so far been suspended for such an offence, despite similar events involving Lazio fans earlier in the season.

Roma said they were doing all they could to prevent offensive symbols being brought into the Olympic stadium and that it was down to the police to confiscate them because it is they who carry out the checks at the turnstiles.

Despite Pisanu's apparently tough stance, he admitted that the suspension of a match or any intervention by the police could create "extreme tension and possibly endanger peaceful supporters".