Football news - Police make five arrests over racist abuse of England players after Euro 2020 final
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Published 15/07/2021 at 15:26 GMT+1
Police have made five arrests related to racist abuse England players receieved after the Euro 2020 final. Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka were targeted after they missed penalties for England in the shoot-out against Italy. "We will track you down and you will face the serious consequences of your shameful actions," Chief constable Mark Roberts said.
'Racial abuse at England players after final disgusting and disgraceful'
Police have arrested five people after England players were racially abused following their Euro 2020 final defeat to Italy.
Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka were victims of horrific abuse after they missed penalties in the shoot-out with Italy.
The UK Football Policing Unit say they are working through a ‘significant’ number of reports of racist abuse, but have already made five arrests.
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Chief constable Mark Roberts branded the abuse as ‘utterly vile’ and sent a warning to individuals found guilty of racist abuse.
"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.
The most recent arrest was by Cheshire Police who picked up a 42-year-old man from Runcorn on suspicion of displaying threatening, abusive or insulting written material that is likely to incite racial hatred.
The investigation into racist abuse will continue and more arrests are expected.
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“Our England team have been true role models during the tournament, conducting themselves with professionalism and dignity,” Roberts said.
I'm disgusted there are individuals out there who think it's acceptable to direct such abhorrent abuse at them, or at anybody else.
While police work to bring cases, Prime Minister Boris Johnson denied his government have failed to condemn racist abuse.
Johnson has promised to fine social media companies who do not remove racist abuse and promised to ban any fans found guilty of racist abuse from stadiums for up to ten years.
"I was appalled by the abhorrent abuse directed towards a number of our footballers in the aftermath of Sunday's game,” he said.
“More must be done to prevent people being bullied and trolled online."
He added: "We are also working closely with the football and police authorities to ensure we can track and take action against online abusers and will ban them from football grounds in the same way we would if they had committed these offences on our streets."
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