Police in Spain have made four arrests on suspicion of hate crimes against Real Madrid star Vinicius Junior. The Brazilian has frequently been targeted by the racist section of the Atletico Madrid support, and he was set to be the target once more in September.
Ahead of the Madrid derby, it made waves that various accounts encouraged Atletico fans to attend the Metropolitano in balaclavas to obscure their identity, thus allowing them to racially abuse Vinicius with impunity. A small number of fans did attend the Metropolitano in balaclavas.
However it has not gone without impunity. As explained by Diario AS, police have detained four people behind social media accounts that incited hatred with racial connotations against Vinicius. The arrests came about as a result of three complaints made by La Liga. “They incited fans through social media to attend the stadium to proffer insults with racial connotastions,” noted the police, also on social media.
The Metropolitano saw its singing section closed last Sunday against Leganes due to the throwing of objects towards Thibaut Courtois.
La Liga have been keen to emphasize that they are taking action against racism after an uptick in incidents over recent years, and have been pushing for more powers to punish clubs and fans, authority that currenly lies with the Royal Spanish Football Federation and government.
Story by: Ebenezer Osei Kofi Bimpong.
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