LONDON – Four people have been arrested over online racist abuse aimed at members of the England football team after European Championship final on Sunday.
British police said on Thursday a specialist team is looking into the offensive comments after three black players – Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka – were targetted with racist abuse on social media sites, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
All three missed penalties in the defeat against Italy at Wembley Stadium in London.
The abuse has been widely condemned and the government has promised action against social media companies if they do not remove offensive material more quickly.
“We are working very closely with social media platforms, who are providing data we need to progress enquiries,” Chief Constable Mark Roberts said.
Roberts is the officer responsible for leading Britain’s policing response on football issues.
“If we identify that you are behind this crime, we will track you down and you will face the serious consequences of your shameful actions,” he said.
A hate crime investigation led by the UK Football Policing Unit has started.
Police said dozens of data applications had been submitted to tech firms and that four people had been arrested so far.
The England players highlighted the issue of racism by taking the knee before their matches, a protest which some fans booed.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised to tackle online abuse, but he and other ministers have been accused of hypocrisy for not condemning those who booed the players at the start of the tournament.
Police also said there had been 897 football-related incidents and 264 arrests in the 24 hours around the final, a big increase on previous tournaments in 2016 and 2018.
At Wembley, fans were unruly and large groups without tickets stormed security cordons.
(Reuters)
