THE FURIOUS reaction of Boro fans to the aggressive Third World policing in Rome is to be channelled into some positive action.
The Gazette has reacted to a bulging mail-bag of horror stories from supporters who were bullied, intimidated and detained a gun-point by the Carabinieri by launching a campaign demanding action from UEFA and from the Government.
The campaign, which is backed by Teesside's MPs and Euro MPs, will be unveiled tomorrow. But you lot can have a sneak preview...
Anyone who was there can have no doubt that the way that 3,500 fans were policed was a draconian breach of human rights and a scandalous infringement of the standards of civilised behaviour expected from a fellow European democracy. We should not let it lie.
The Gazette share the anger at the way Teessiders were treated - and we are going to do something about it.
We have won the backing of all Teesside's elected representatives who have agreed to highlight the outrageous events to all the relevent authorities. They will take the case to the Sports Minister, the Foreign Office and the European Parliament.
We will be demanding a full inquiry into the police operation and insisting safeguards are put in place for future trips.
Meanwhile we are sending a dossier of events in the stadium to UEFA. The European Governing body last year outline a crackdown on violence and disorder in stadiums and we want to hold them to their word.
We will be demanding sanctions against a club that did nothing to protect visiting fans from an unprovoked attack involving deadly missiles. Safety of supporters is paramount.
And you can play your part. Send in your own accounts of events in Rome, of the gathering in Villa Borghese, of the attack by Roma ultras in the stadium, of the two hour wait to leave the stadium, of the armed convoy to the airport. The more evidence the better.
You can e-mail them to me at anthony.vickers@gazettemedia.co.uk
Make sure you put your name and address as Parliamentary protocol insists MPs can only raise cases that involve their constituents.
Let's keep this rumbling. We need action. We may have many more Euro games to come. We must ensure fans safety abroad in the future.
- Post to:
del.icio.us
Digg
Newsvine
Nowpublic
Reddit
« Previous | Home | Next »