updated 2:17 p.m. ET Feb. 3, 2007

CATANIA, Sicily - Months after a match-fixing scandal rocked Italian soccer, the nation’s favorite sport was again in shock when massive fan rioting claimed the life of a police officer and injured scores of other people.

The death of the 38-year-old policeman during a match between Sicilian sides Catania and Palermo has already caused soccer officials to suspend this weekend’s matches — the first time in over a decade.

It left politicians wonder how to confront violence in soccer stadiums, with many calling for zero-tolerance measures and others looking to Britain — a country that has largely solved its hooliganism — for possible solutions.

It was a harsh reality for a country that just months ago celebrated the national side’s World Cup victory in Germany.

“Policeman killed, soccer under shock,” read the headline of Italy’s top newspaper Corriere della Sera. “We are talking about a cancer, not a seasonal flu,” wrote Gianni Mura, a leading soccer commentator, in Saturday’s editions of La Repubblica.

In a country where soccer is a religion for many, the Vatican paper also weighed in, calling the policeman’s death “unacceptable folly.”

“Let’s acknowledge this: soccer in Italy dies last night with the policeman,” said L’Osservatore Romano.

The rioting outside Catania’s Angelo Massimino stadium started during the second half of the match. Police fired tear gas, which wafted into the stadium and forced the match to be temporarily suspended.

The violence continued after the game, in which Palermo beat Catania 2-1, trapping hundreds of fans inside the stadium as authorities sought to avoid further violence. About 100 people were injured, according to RAI state-run TV.

Police detained 22 fans — including nine minors — and sealed off the stadium, reports said. None was suspected of killing the officer.

The officer, 38-year-old Chief Inspector Filippo Raciti, died after an explosive device was thrown into his vehicle, police said.

It was the second soccer-related death in less than a week, after a fourth-division team manager died last Saturday from injuries he received when he tried to stop a brawl during a game.

The most recent death in Serie A was in 1995, when 25-year-old Genoa fan Vincenzo Spagnolo was stabbed to death before a match between his team and AC Milan.

UEFA President Michel Platini expressed concern over the latest episode of violence in European soccer, and vowed to work with Italy to fight it.

The Italian soccer federation also canceled Wednesday’s friendly between Italy and Romania, and threatened to extend the suspension.

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