Photo: Marco Rossi/ Getty

A passage from Anne Frank’s diary was read over the loudspeakers in Italian soccer stadiums and moments of silence were held before yesterday’s Serie A matches as a stand against recent incidents of anti-Semitism by Lazio FC supporters, but some fans turned their back and sang the Italian national anthem as protest.


Over the weekend, Lazio FC fans, who have a history of racist behavior, plastered their Stadio Olimpico home in Rome with stickers that showed Anne Frank wearing the jersey of their rival Roma, along with anti-Semitic graffiti. The league and Italian police launched an investigation and the club promised to take measures to fight anti-Semitism, which included players wearing warm-up shirts with Anne Frank’s image as well as taking 200 young Lazio fans to Auschwitz to educate them about the Holocaust.

The responses from across the league to the pre-match readings and moments of silence, though, were not encouraging.


According to the BBC:

Some Juventus fans turned their backs and sang the Italian national anthem during a minute’s silence to remember the Holocaust before the Serie A game against SPAL. [...] At most stadiums the minute’s silence turned into applause. But some fans at Roma-Crotone drowned out the reading with team chants.

The Washington Post reported:

For their part, Lazio’s ultras fan club has shown little remorse for the whole affair. It urged its supporters to refrain from attending Wednesday’s match and stood by the anti-Semitic stickers.


From the Los Angeles Times:

Before the Lazio-Bologna game on Wednesday, fans, including 500 Lazio supporters, listened to the passage in silence before applauding. However, a smaller group of “Ultra” Lazio fans who had gathered outside the stadium sang fascist songs and gave stiff-armed fascist salutes.


The Local reported:

