CONI holds emergency meeting after death of policeman

ROME, Feb 4 (Reuters) The Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) held an emergency meeting today as soccer stadiums fell silent for the second day in a row after a policeman died following fan violence in the Sicilian city of Catania on Friday.

All soccer matches from children's leagues to the national team's friendly against Romania on Wednesday have been cancelled while the authorities consider draconian measures such as matches behind closed doors.

''If the attack was extraordinary, the response has to be extraordinary as well,'' Interior Minister Giuliano Amato told La Repubblica newspaper. ''The fans are risking the possibility of never seeing soccer again -- of being without soccer forever, with stadiums empty and barred.'' CONI, Italian sport's top governing body, convened to decide policy and make recommendations before meeting the government on Monday.

Other measures being considered include a ban on organised groups of fans moving from one place to the next, introducing tickets with fan's names on them and more closed circuit cameras.

Prime Minister Romano Prodi, who has promised radical measures, will meet top ministers on Monday to formulate new measures and Amato will address Parliament on Tuesday.

Although brawls at Italian stadiums are common, the riots following Friday night's Serie A match between Sicilian arch-rivals Palermo and Catania shocked a nation still basking in the glow of its World Cup victory last year.

UNCONTROLLABLE ''ULTRAS'' After the game in Catania, hooded fans chased police vans and hurled flares and fireworks, one of which exploded in the face of 38-year-old police officer Filippo Raciti, who died in hospital.

More than 70 people were injured.

Much of the violence is blamed on radical football supporters called ''ultras'' who have resisted any measures to control their behaviour.

The shock went far beyond Sicily.

A day after the riots, anti-police graffiti was scrawled on walls as far north as Livorno, near the border with France.

One called for the deaths of more policemen and another used the English acronym ACAB, meaning ''All Cops Are Bastards''.

Raciti was the 13th person to be killed in or around Italy's football stadiums since 1962.

The last fatality at a First Division match was in 1995 when a Genoa fan was stabbed to death before a game against AC Milan.

The championship was suspended for day at the time.

In a sign of mourning, city-wide festivities for the feast of Catania's patron Saint Agatha were scaled down. Many residents had called for the whole feast to be scraped.

Reuters SAM RS1808