Italy's Di Canio accused of fascist salute
(AP)
Updated: 2005-12-13 14:19

ROME - An Italian soccer player appeared to give a fascist salute to his fans during a league game for the second time this season.

Lazio's Paolo Di Canio waves to his fans as he leaves the pitch after being substituted during the Italian League soccer match between Livorno and Lazio at the Armando Picchi stadium in Leghorn, Italy, Sunday Dec. 11, 2005. [AP]

Italian papers ran photos Monday showing Lazio forward with his arm outstretched as he was being substituted during the second half of his team's 2-1 loss to Livorno on Sunday. He could face disciplinary action.

"Politics must remain out of soccer stadiums," Giancarlo Abete, the Italian soccer federation's deputy president, told the ANSA news agency Monday.

The arm gesture is associated in Italy with the salute used under the rule of fascist dictator Benito Mussolini.

"I will always salute as I did yesterday because it gives me a sense of belonging to my people," Di Canio was quoted by ANSA.

The game featured teams whose fans have opposing political allegiances: Lazio fans waved swastika flags while Livorno fans had red Communist flags. Clashes between Livorno fans and police were reported outside the stadium before the game, with one officer slightly injured.

Livorno goalkeeper Marco Amelia wants the federation to discipline Di Canio.

"It is a stupid gesture, and it's not the first time he's made it," Amelia told ANSA.

In January, Di Canio was photographed making the salute after his team's 3-1 victory over AS Roma, a gesture that drew widespread condemnation. He was fined $13,400 by the federation but maintained his gesture had no political significance.

A leading right-wing politician tried to play down this latest episode.

"Let everybody salute as they like," Ignazio La Russa of the National Alliance party said. "It doesn't seem to me a violent gesture. There's nothing dramatic about it."