Accused of laissez-faire in the face of racism in football, the Spanish authorities tightened the screw on Tuesday, two days after new insults uttered against Brazilian star Vinicius Junior, causing a wave of international indignation.
Seizure of an investigation for “hate crime”, a criminal category including racist crimes, the Spanish police announced that they had arrested three young people suspected of “racist behavior” during Sunday’s match in Valencia, where the Real Madrid striker been targeted with insults and monkey cries.
These arrests, made thanks to “the collaboration of the Valencian club”, took place at dawn in this city in eastern Spain, the police detailed in a press release. “The investigation is continuing to identify other alleged perpetrators” of racist insults, she added.
In parallel with this operation, the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) has indicated that it has suspended the video referee of the match between Valencia and Real Madrid, marked by multiple incidents, who will be replaced in his duties on the next day of the championship.
Nacho Iglesias Villanueva is accused of having provided the main referee only with the images of the gesture which earned Vinicius a red card at the end of the match, failing to broadcast those of the Valencia player, Hugo Duro, guilty of a gesture resembling to a choke against the Brazilian.
Additional sign of firmness: four men were arrested, also on Tuesday, in the investigation into the hanging on January 26 of a model bearing the image of Vinicius during a derby won by Real Madrid against Atlético Madrid in Copa del Rey quarter-finals.
Three of them are “active members of an ultra group of supporters of a Madrid club”, said the police, without identifying the club in question.
The model wearing a jersey of the Merengue striker was found hanging from a bridge in the Spanish capital, under a banner bearing the inscription “Madrid hates Real”. After this incident, Real Madrid denounced a “racist act” and “repugnant” against its 22-year-old player.
“Drastic measures”
A regular target of racist attacks since his arrival at Real Madrid in 2018, the Brazilian international stepped up to the plate on Sunday evening in a message posted on Instagram after Valencia’s insults. “It wasn’t the first time, nor the second, nor the third. Racism is normal in La Liga”, he regretted.
Spain is “a beautiful nation, which welcomed me and which I love, but which agreed to export the image of a racist country throughout the world. I’m sorry for the Spaniards who disagree, but today in Brazil, Spain is known as a country of racists,” he insisted.
The insults towards Vinicius have aroused numerous condemnations abroad and in Spain, where the presence of racism in stadiums and part of society has long been denounced by players and anti-racist associations, who consider the problem insufficiently addressed. seriously.
Pointed out for its supposed laxity, La Liga defended itself by indicating that it lacked the power to sanction. She assured to have transmitted eight complaints to justice this season for attacks against Vinicius, remained for the most part and at this stage without effect.
Most Spanish media also called for tougher action. “It is not enough not to be racist, you have to be anti-racist”, wrote in white letters on a black background the sports newspaper brand, in a forum in one of its edition. Basta ya (that’s enough), titled for his part El Mundo Deportivo.
“To condemn is not enough anymore,” Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti told the press on Tuesday. “The institutions have an opportunity now to take drastic measures on this important subject,” insisted the Italian technician.
In a press release, the Spanish government announced that it would propose to the Federation as well as to La Liga an “awareness campaign” aimed at supporters, with “specific actions” to fight against “the scourge of racism”.
“It must be said clearly that we are anti-racist: Spain is fighting these behaviors, condemning them and doing everything to eradicate them”, insisted after the Council of Ministers the spokesperson for the left-wing government, Isabel Rodriguez.