Italian police arrest 8 fans in Naples
Police have arrested three fans of Eintracht Frankfurt and five of Napoli in connection with Wednesday's riots on the sidelines of the second leg of the Champions League final, Italian authorities said Thursday.
Naples provincial police imposed a ban on the eight fans from entering stadiums for between five and eight years after Wednesday's 3-0 win by the Italian club, reaching the quarter-finals of the Champions League for the first time in its history.
Naples police official Alessandro Giuliano told Italian news agency AGI that six police officers were injured and the identification of the rioters was still "ongoing through analysis of images" taken by police or posted on social media.
The first clashes took place on Wednesday afternoon between fans and police in the historic downtown Piazza del Gizo Novo, in a guerrilla-like scene.
After the match, altercations then occurred near the hotel where German fans were staying on the beach of Naples.
When German fans left their hotel by bus, Napoli fans tried to intercept them by throwing stones and firecrackers, and police responded with tear gas and water cannons.
Police identified 470 fans of the German team before they left.
Footage broadcast by Italian media before the match showed hundreds of Eintracht Frankfurt fans throwing smoke grenades and firecrackers at police, who responded with tear gas.
A police car was set on fire, while masked men dressed in black threw chairs, bottles and iron poles.
Italian and German media reported that a group of "ultras" fans of local rivals Atalanta helped Eintracht fans and participated with them in the clash with the police due to the historical rivalry between the two Italian teams.
Eintracht fans travelled to southern Italy despite their club deciding not to sell tickets for the visiting team in the stands of the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium.
Eintracht Frankfurt did not take their tickets after the city of Naples decided on Sunday to ban Frankfurt residents from attending the match.
Italy's interior ministry initially banned all fans from Germany from attending because of the violence that accompanied the first leg in Frankfurt, when nine people were arrested.
The ban was lifted on Saturday after an appeal from the German club, but Naples banned all Frankfurt residents on Sunday.
Eintracht's attempt to challenge the ban was rejected and the German club decided to give away 2,700 passes to its supporters allowed by UEFA rules.
Italian news agency ANSA quoted Naples Mayor Gaetano Manfredi as denouncing the "insane and unacceptable destruction".
Fans of the German club have been under the microscope of UEFA since last season after they swept the pitch after qualifying for the final of the "Europa League" competition, which their team won at the expense of Scottish Rangers.
They also clashed in September with Marseille fans, with both sides throwing smoke grenades at the other, seriously injuring an Eintracht fan.