Raggi to visit Auschwitz with soccer rep (3)

(ANSA) - Rome, November 3 - The city of Rome on Friday announced that Mayor Virginia Raggi has invited representatives of the Italian professional footballers association (AIC) to take part in the first citizen's annual trip with a group of students to Auschwitz. The move comes after some ultra fans of Rome team Lazio used a mocked-up photo of Holocaust victim Anne Frank for an anti-Semitic insult of followers of AS Roma, causing international indignation. AIC President Damiano Tommasi and AIC Junior Department head Simone Perrotta, who helped Italy win the 2006 World Cup, have been invited to the trip, which starts Sunday and runs until Tuesday. "We cannot ignore what happened in recent days at the stadiums," Raggi said.
    "I reiterate that this is not sport, this is not soccer.
    "That's why we decided to give out a signal to make people aware of the importance of history and memory as an antidote to anti-Semitism, hate and violence.
    "We say no to racists, fascists and anti-Semites".