More than 150 police officers were injured during violent clashes with fans before, during and after Sunday's explosive Serie A match between Lazio and Roma.

The highly-charged city derby, which has a history of crowd trouble, was abandoned at the start of the second half due to fears for the safety of the 65,000 fans inside the Olympic stadium.

Fourteen fans were injured and 15 arrests were made, police said, adding an enquiry into the riot was taking place.

Trouble began when a false rumour spread that a young Roma fan had been killed after being run over by a police car outside the ground, triggering fierce clashes between supporters and police officers.

Scores of fans set up barricades around the stadium and fought running battles with riot police, who responded by firing tear gas at the troublemakers.

To quell growing fears of trouble inside the stadium, the Rome police department denied the rumour via the stadium announcer, but by that time many Roma fans had already become agitated, pelting riot squads positioned underneath the south enclosure with bottles and flares.

Some supporters in the 'Curva Sud' set fire to seats and banners, creating clouds of thick black smoke near the exits and forcing many choking fans to climb perimeter fencing to escape the fumes.

With tension mounting inside the ground, referee Roberto Rosetti stopped the match two minutes into the second-half on the advice of Italian Football League president Adriano Galliani.

Both captains - Roma's Francesco Totti and Lazio's Sinisa Mihajlovic - said they were reluctant to play the remainder of the match, while leaders of the Roma 'ultras', the club's hard-core fans, also pleaded with stadium officials for the game to be brought to an end to prevent more trouble.

The match, which is vital to both teams with Roma hoping to catch leaders AC Milan and Lazio aiming for a top four finish, will be replayed at a later date.

Some reports suggest the game could be played behind closed doors if the police are concerned about more violence.

Galliani said he abandoned the match because he feared there would be serious crowd disorder inside the Olympic stadium.

"I was convinced that the conditions had made it impossible to play on and I chose the safest option," he said.

"Certainly, it was a difficult decision. I talked to Rosetti, but also with (Roma coach Fabio) Capello and (Roma director Franco) Baldini.

"I told the referee to suspend that match and the game will definitely be replayed.

"I had one of two choices to make and I went with the one that my conscience was telling me to go for."

Lazio president Ugo Longo, however, said he saw no reason why the match should not have continued. "I think that somebody got their wires crossed, as nobody could work out why the match was stopped," he said.

"It's incredible - I have never seen anything like it before. Seeing as the rumour turned out to be false, there was no reason at all to suspend the game.

"If anything, I believe the suspension created tension and sparked these violent scenes."

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