Italian football weekend cancelled after fan death and hooligan riots

 Serie B and Serie C games will not be played next weekend, when the Serie A was already off as Italy play two Euro 2008 qualifiers against Scotland and the Faroe Islands Saturday and on November 21.

 The Italian football federation (FIGC) took the decision late Monday following the request of Sports Minister Giovanna Melandri, who had said she expected "a meaningful action from football."

   Hooligans rioted in Rome, Bergamo, Milan and Taranto Sunday after the death of Gabriele Sandri a Lazio fan heading for a Serie A game in Milan.

 Sandri, 26, died at a motorway rest station Sunday morning when an agent fired warning shots to stop a clash among fans of Lazio and Juventus near the Tuscany town of Arezzo.

 A committee of the interior ministry also met in the wake of the riots and stiffened existing anti-hooligans laws, prohibiting fans to follow their teams in away games and closing the curves of Bergamo side Atalanta and lower-division Taranto, whose die-hard fans Sunday caused the games to abandoned.

 Ministry officials and police in the cities are to be given more power to cancel games in case of violence, while access to the stadiums will be monitored prohibiting fans from buying multiple tickets.

 Clubs with stadiums holding more than 7,500 people are to provide a steward service by March 1, or will have to play their games without public.

 The committee is also studying ways to identify fans by a personal card, which should include the possibility to reward sportsmanship.

 Minister Melandri said she was pleased with the measures taken. "I will propose Interior Minister (Giuliano) Amato to make the (current) measures on banners less strict," she said.

 "We must begin a dialogue with fans and reward those who deserve it."

DPA