Racial Incidents Mar Italy’s World Cup Celebration By PETER KIEFER, NY Times Published: July 11, 2006 ROME, July 11 — Swastikas spray painted in Rome’s ancient Jewish ghetto sullied Italy’s joy after its World Cup victory on Sunday, as did racial comments made by a former government minister about the French team. Jeff Z. Klein, Robert Mackey and other staff members of The Times and International Herald Tribune are following the aftermath of the world's most popular sporting event. Italy’s interior minister, Giuliano Amato, said today that a number of swastikas were daubed on the walls of Rome’s Jewish quarter during the postgame festivities. “As an Italian I feel ashamed, and as interior minister I am alarmed by such things,” Mr. Amato reportedly said during a visit to Rome’s main synagogue. And a number of Italian politicians and the French ambassador to Italy issued a strong rebuke to remarks made by Roberto Calderoli, the former minister of reform and a member of the right-wing National Alliance Party. After the Cup victory he said that the Italians had vanquished a French team that was comprised of “Negroes, communists and Moslems.” Italian soccer is no stranger to extremist politics. Italian football matches are often used as a platform for far-right fans to express racist sentiments. There is no love lost between Italian fans and the French, especially France’s star Zinedine Zidane, who was sent off in the waning minutes of the World Cup final for head-butting the Italian defender, Marco Materazzi, apparently after being taunted. Mr. Zidane and members of his family have emerged as a favorite target of Italian insults. Some of those relatives have reportedly said they believed Mr. Materazzi had called Mr. Zidane a “terrorist,’’ a charge the Italian player has denied. As for Mr. Calderoli, this is his latest brush with controversy. During the international crisis over the publishing of cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad, Mr. Calderoli was forced to resign from his ministerial post earlier this year after making statements supporting the use of force against Muslims and wearing a T-shirt on national television with one of the cartoons emblazoned on it. Mr. Calderoli’s television appearance precipitated attacks on the Italian embassy in Libya in which at least 11 people were killed and dozens injured. After the climactic game Sunday, there were brief clashes between the police and bottle-throwing rowdies in Rome’s city center. On Monday, hundreds of thousands of fans joyously welcomed the arrival of their world champion team at the Circus Maximus in Rome.