MILAN (Reuters) -A bus driver has died after stones were thrown at a vehicle carrying fans home from a basketball game in central Italy, local media reported, causing shock in a country where fan violence is more often connected to soccer.
After a match on Sunday between SRS Sebastiani Rieti and Pistoia Basket 2000 in Serie A2, the second tier of the Italian game, a bus carrying Pistoia fans was hit by stones and bricks just outside of Rieti, Italian daily La Nazione reported.
One stone smashed through the windscreen and struck one of the two drivers on board, who died shortly after despite attempts to resuscitate him, it added.
It was not immediately clear whether those who hurled stones at the bus were rival fans, Italian media reported.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said the death was “terrible news”.
“The attack is an unacceptable and senseless act of violence,” she wrote on X.
Gianni Petrucci, president of Federbasket, the national basketball federation, said he would work with the legal authorities on a response.
“This is not about basketball. These are criminals, they are murderers, people with no present and no future,” he told national broadcaster RAI.
Italy has long had issues with violence between soccer fans.
In April, 13 police officers were injured during skirmishes between supporters of AS Roma and Lazio ahead of the Rome derby. In May, a 26-year-old Atalanta fan was stabbed to death during clashes between Atalanta and Inter Milan supporters.
(Reporting by Gianluca Semeraro, editing by Keith Weir)
