By Jon Kelly BBC News

Manchester United fans travelling to Milan will take with them fresh memories of ugly confrontations with Italian police. But accusations of heavy-handedness go back much further against the forces of law and order in the country.

Scenes in Rome horrified spectators

Brutal scenes of violence between baton-wielding officers and supporters on 4 April during United's Champions League tie with Roma at the Stadio Olympico horrified many onlookers.

Footage of bleeding fans emerging from the melee were the defining images of a night which left 11 United supporters injured.

But seasoned observers know that such complaints against Italy's law enforcers are not unique.

'Softly-softly'

Colin Hendrie, from the Independent Manchester United Supporters Association, says: "What we've seen is that they don't do softy-softly policing over there.

"There's a very different way of controlling crowds, and sadly our fans wound up on the end of it."

When Italian police brandishing truncheons waded into a brawl between players from Roma and Turkish side Galatasaray during a 2002 Champions League game in Rome, their response caused a diplomatic incident.

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Turkey's foreign minister Ismail Cem said their actions "didn't make me think of Europe in 2002 but the attacks of police in the fascist period of Mussolini".

Football supporters are not the only group to have made such complaints.

In July the previous year, officers were accused of beating up and attempting to frame anti-globalisation demonstrators during the G8 summit in Genoa.

United lead 3-2, thanks to Wayne Rooney, from the first leg

A total of 62 protesters were injured, three of them critically, during a raid on a school where they were staying.

Several officers were charged after it was alleged that, as well as having been assaulted and planted with false evidence, the leftist demonstrators were forced to chant "Viva il Duce" (long live the leader, a slogan from Mussolini's regime).

And an FA inquiry into trouble at a World Cup qualifier between England and Italy in 1997 accused Italian police of brutality.

Officers were accused of launching "pre-meditated, well-organised" attacks on fans, as well as spitting at them and flashing flick knives.

These methods of policing are inevitably indiscriminate, so innocent people get caught up in the trouble Dr Clifford Stott

But Italy's continuing problem with football hooliganism may explain why its police continues to react as it does.

In February the fatal stabbing of a police officer during a Sicilian derby match between Catania and Palermo threw the country's "Ultra" scene into the spotlight.

'Use of force'

Dr Clifford Stott, a social psychologist and expert in football violence - who was in the Stadio Olympico during the notorious Manchester United game - believes the problem is a cultural one.

He says: "With Italian police there is an overwhelming reliance on the use of force.

"Obviously the police in any country will need to use these methods as a last resort, but for the Italians it is the first resort.

Obviously the police in any country will need to use these methods as a last resort, but for the Italians it is the first resort Dr Clifford Stott

"And these methods of policing are inevitably indiscriminate, so innocent people get caught up in the trouble."

After the violence in Rome, the city's head of police, Achille Serra, insisted the police action was a "justified response", and said there would be no inquiry unless he were shown evidence of any alleged police brutality.

Italian Football Federation president Giancarlo Abete backed Mr Serra's comments: "The English press speak of heavy handed police? We owe gratitude to our law enforcers.

"I don't believe those who try to make games safe can be crucified in this manner."

Unlike in the UK, where seats are numbered and stewards can quietly identify troublemakers, Italian police rarely venture into the parts of stadiums occupied by hardcore hooligans.

Instead they tend to stand in double or triple lines facing them, and wade in when scuffles erupt.