Rome (ANTARA News/AFP) - Italy and Serbia blamed each other on Wednesday for intelligence failures after clashes between Serbian fans and Italian police that forced the cancellation of a Euro 2012 qualifying match.
"We have found flaws in the information system, the results of which are clear to everyone," Roberto Massucci, an interior ministry spokesman for efforts to combat football hooliganism, said at a press conference.
"Had we had specific information we would have put better security measures in place... but the information didn`t detail any risky profiles," he said.
"Our best weapon is intelligence, but there just wasn`t any," he added.
Massucci praised the Italian police for their "professionalism" when dealing with the riot and for preventing the situation from spiralling out of control.
But he said that Italy had received no warning of the seriousness of the threat, and that measures should have been taken by Serbian officials.
"The violent fans could have been prevented from leaving their country," Massucci said.
Italian security officials had received an Interpol document listing the Serbian fans who were travelling to the match but it was incomplete, Antonello Valentini, director general of the Italian Football Federation, said.
"Interpol said around 1,300 Serbian fans were arriving, but the number was much higher, there were 1,800 of them, around 180 of which came in on buses and minibuses that were not reported at all" he said.
Serbian Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said the preparations for the match had not been adequate and his Italian counterparts had not asked for any information on the arriving fans.
"They didn`t get in touch with us at all. We sent them a list of the Serbian supporters and the route they would take on our own initiative," he said.
"The intervention by Italian police could have been better," he added.
Police made 17 arrests and 16 people were hospitalised after the clashes in Genoa, in Northern Italy. The injured included two policemen. (Uu.A008/P003)
Source: http://www.antaranews.com