Partial closure of Valencia stadium follows arrests in racial abuse of Vinicius
Spanish police arrested seven people over the racial abuse of Real Madrid’s Vinicius Junior, as the Brazilian star was spared a ban for his red card against Valencia.
The forward was targeted by Valencia fans on Sunday, sparking an international outcry, and the Spanish club had one stand of their stadium shut for five games by football authorities.
Valencia were also fined ¤45,000 (HK$380,400) but said they would appeal over the partial closure of their stadium, saying the punishment was “unfair and disproportionate”.
The 22-year-old black player was subjected to racist taunts during Madrid’s 1-0 defeat by Valencia and later sent off.
The player has been taunted by opposition fans since joining Real in 2018 but the latest incident kicked up a storm over whether Spain was doing enough to stamp out racism in football.
Police arrested three youths in Valencia for “insults and gestures with racist overtones” towards the player that amounted to “an alleged hate crime” during Sunday’s match.
After their statements were taken, they were later “released on condition they appear when summoned” by the public prosecutor’s office or the courts, a police spokesman said.
The game was held up for several minutes with the referee saying shouts of “monkey” had been directed at Vinicius.
In a statement, Valencia confirmed the arrests, reiterating their “strongest condemnation of racism and violence” and saying the club was acting against those involved “by banning them for life” from their stadium.
In Madrid, police arrested another four men suspected of dangling an effigy wearing a Real Madrid shirt with Vinicius’ number on it from a bridge earlier this year. The dark-skinned inflatable dummy was hung by the neck from a bridge near Real Madrid’s training ground several hours before a derby clash with Atletico Madrid on January 26.
Above it was a 16-metre banner reading “Madrid hates Real”, police said.
Investigators said three of the suspects were “active members of a group of radical fans” who had previously been identified as “high risk” by agents working to prevent football violence.
After the abuse in Sunday’s match, Vinicius was sent off for hitting Valencia’s Hugo Duro after the referee watched VAR footage of a brawl between the two teams.
We are calling on organised sport events in the world to counter and combat racism
VOLKER TURK, U.N. RIGHTS CHIEF
But Spain’s refereeing panel sidelined official Ignacio Iglesias Villanueva – who was in charge of VAR for the match – for his part in awarding Vinicius a red card.
During the match, the VAR footage he showed the referee did not include the part where Duro grabbed the Brazilian around the neck before the incident – also a red-card offence.
The United Nations rights chief yesterday decried the racist attacks on Vinicius, urging concerted efforts to root racism out of sports.
“We are calling on all those organised sport events everywhere in the world to counter and combat and prevent racism,” Volker Turk said in Geneva. He said it was “a stark reminder of the prevalence of racism in sport”.