Aftermath of Semifinals Results in Two Deaths

Two people died and nearly 200 were arrested after street celebrations turned violent Wednesday following Argentina’s Tuesday victory over Italy in a World Cup semifinal match.

Thousands in the country celebrated Argentina’s advance to the World Cup final, but revelry turned chaotic when several hundred youths began breaking into shops in Buenos Aires.

Luis Alba, 54, was beaten to death after he refused to hand over the Argentine flag he was waving to a group of about 10 young men in Florencio, 18 miles south of Buenos Aires, police said. The other victim, Walter Soria, 22, was hit by a stray bullet as he celebrated in a western suburb of Buenos Aires.

English soccer fans marked their team’s defeat with an outburst of violence.

Police said more than 200 people were arrested as soccer hooligans went on the rampage in London and at least 28 other English cities Wednesday night.

Hooligans attacked German-made cars in London and at the seaside town of Brighton, 50 miles south of the capital, police locked 300 German students in a nightclub for their own safety as hundreds of English fans swarmed outside.

An Argentine man was attacked and beaten by Italians in Macerata in eastern Italy after he noisily celebrated Argentina’s World Cup semifinal victory, police said.

Cesar Tartuferi, 27, who has lived in Macerata for 16 years, was attacked by about 70 people after he drove down the street sounding his horn loudly to celebrate the victory.

Police rescued Tartuferi, who was kicked and punched. He was not seriously hurt.

A 23-year-old German was stabbed in the back and critically wounded when a fight broke out among fans in Turin, Italy, before the West Germany-England match.

Police said Manfred Girr, of the Frankfurt area, was taken to Mauriziano Hospital for emergency surgery, which was successful.

Witnesses’ reports of the nationality of the assailants were mixed.

Police used tear gas to disperse hundreds of Italians who broke down a gate and attacked English fans sleeping in a park in Turin.

Forty-three Italians were arrested, police chief Antonio Beradino said. Three Italians and a policeman were reported hospitalized. Witnesses said some Italians wore scarves in the colors of the Turin soccer team Juventus to recall the rioting in Brussels’ Heysel stadium in 1985. In that incident, 39 people, most of them Italians, died during a European Cup championship game against the English team from Liverpool.