Rome Feyenoord, security alert, fans arrived in Naples, all police measures

A game to be played on two fronts. If for José Mourinho’s team Roma-Feyenoord — the second leg of the quarter-finals, 1-0 for the Dutch in Rotterdam — represents a crucial stage in their journey in the Europa League, Thursday night’s challenge continues for the authorities and law enforcement agencies to be public order at risk. Despite the decision by the Capitoline prefecture to ban away games and the sale of tickets for the Olimpico match to residents of the Netherlands, as the hours go by, the possibility that several Feyenoord fans decide to spend the day of the match in Rome seems destined to turn into reality. In fact, there are dozens of reports to the police from Roman hotels, which have warned that they have received numerous reservations from people arriving from the Netherlands precisely in conjunction with the match. All without considering the rooms reserved in the B&B. And there is also a flood of reservations on trains and planes arriving from Rotterdam. But now, to further raise the antennas of Digos and the public security authorities, a new element has been added.

ALREADY IN NAPLES

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Some groups of the Dutch fans accepted the invitation of the Napoli ultras and, on the evening of 16 April, reached the Campania capital to pay homage to the “Neapolitan friends” (the presence of a red and white delegation at Maradona to attend the challenge is not excluded of tomorrow night’s Champions League with Milan). Everything is documented by photos and videos which, since this morning, have started circulating on Whatsapp groups and Telegram channels close to the world of organized support. And it is precisely the partnership between the hottest fringe of the Feyenoord curve and the Neapolitans that alarms the police, who monitor the situation from a distance. The rivalry between Roma fans and Azzurri fans is now well known and, for this reason, it cannot be ruled out that in Naples someone may decide to join the Dutch on an “unauthorized trip” to the capital.

COUNTERMEASURES

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In the next few hours, the Rome Police Headquarters will announce the plan designed to guarantee public order. There will be over a thousand agents deployed. The main points of interest in the center and the areas surrounding the stadium will be manned as early as Wednesday. Reinforced checks also in airports and railway stations, with particular attention to passengers from Holland. The monitoring activity will also continue on Thursday and Friday – discussions with the Dutch authorities will be constant – with the aim of limiting the possibility of accidents to a minimum during a week which could prove to be extremely important for the future of the capital. In fact, tomorrow the inspectors from the Bie, the International Exhibition Bureau responsible for evaluating Rome’s candidacy for Expo 2030, will arrive. One more reason to keep our guard up and avoid episodes of madness like the one that, in 2015, had led to the damage to the Barcaccia at the hands of the Feyenoord hooligans.

MAXIMUM ATTENTION

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The head of the police, Lamberto Giannini, also spoke about the situation: “There is no concern, there is assiduous and continuous contact with the Dutch authorities to obtain information. We have made contact with Federalberghi, everything necessary is being done to try to manage this thing – he explains to Ansa – we will see in the coming days but these are situations that are taking shape day after day. I think attention will need to be paid, especially on Wednesday. The Prefecture and the Police headquarters are paying maximum attention to providing reinforcements able to handle it all”.