The incident occurred during half-time of Inter’s Serie A match against Sampdoria on October 29. News came through that one of the historic ultras leaders, a man in his 70s who had a long rap sheet including drug dealing and kidnap, had been shot and killed in an ambush outside his home. To honour him, the ultras all left the Curva Nord section of the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, but also insisted that all other fans also vacate the area, doing so with threats and physical violence, even towards families with children.
That prompted questions in parliament, a clampdown on security and turned many of the regular fans against them, which is why this evening the Curva Nord representatives released a statement trying to repair some of the damage.
“Go forward, go beyond, be united,” was the title of the statement.
“Interisti brothers, after a period of reflection, we want to discuss the incidents that occurred during Inter-Sampdoria on October 29.
“We want to send out a sign of peace towards the Nerazzurri population and those who hold Inter in their heart. That was a tragic day for us, which stunned us, took us by surprise and left us disorientated.
“Unfortunately, in the media we were painted (unjustly) as monsters. We are accustomed to that and do not care. The reality is very different.
“However, what is important to us now is rebuilding that bond that has torn with those Inter fans who were in the Curva that day.
“This is not the place to go into specifics of what happened. What is evident to everyone is that this event generated an internal short-circuit where not everything went the way we would’ve liked.
“Some unpleasant and uncontrollable incidents have been reported to us that involved people outside the dynamics of the curva.
“In those chaotic moments, we lacked some fundamental communication and probably some people made mistakes, so for that, we apologise.
“The Curva Nord, in those tragic moments, decided to abandon the section of the stadium out of respect to his family, putting the sporting event in the background.
“It was a choice that might or might not be agreed with, but was misunderstood in its deepest motivation. We want to move on, united.
“So we ask all those who felt offended by the methods used by certain individuals to contact us so we can try to clarify the situation that has been created.
“Our hope is to have everyone with us who has Inter in their heart once the season resumes.”