ROME – Virginia Raggi, the Mayor of Rome, has visited Auschwitz concentration camp. This follows the incident last month where Lazio fans stuck anti-Semitic stickers to the walls of the Olympic stadium in Rome, bearing the image of Anne Frank wearing a Roma jersey.
Raggi brought with her two former Roma players, Damiano Tommasi, the Italian Footballers’ Association (AIC) chief, and Simone Perotta, the AIC Junior Section chief. Tommasi referred to the act of the Lazio fans as “superficial and sad,” while Perotta described the men as “not fans, but people who have nothing to do with the football world,” and stated that “one of the greatest teachings of the football world is to have respect for others.”
The Mayor also brought 100 Roman students and representatives of Rome’s Jewish community.
The anti-Semitic acts of the “ultra,” hard-core Lazio fans, have caused widespread outrage, with Lazio Chairman Claudio Lotito being accused of not condemning the actions severely enough. The Chairman has said that he will take fans to Auschwitz every year in an attempt to educate football fans on the significance of promoting anti-Semitic propaganda.