four people arrested in Madrid for hanging a mannequin bearing the image of Vinicius

Four people have been arrested in Spain as part of the investigation into the hanging at the end of January of a mannequin bearing the image of Real Madrid striker Vinicius Junior, police announced on Tuesday (May 23rd).

The arrests come two days after new racist insults were leveled at the Brazilian Real star in Valencia, which sparked outrage at home and abroad. An investigation has been opened by the Spanish justice on this subject.

These four people, arrested in Madrid, are accused of a “hate crime”, a criminal category including racist crimes in Spain, the Spanish police said in a press release. Three of them are “active members of an ultra group of supporters of a Madrid club”added the police without however identifying this club.

Incidents on the sidelines of a derby against Atlético

The model wearing a Vinicius jersey was found hanged on January 26 on a bridge near the Merengues training center, under a banner reading “Madrid hate Real”. That day, Real Madrid had won (3-1) a derby against Atlético de Madrid in the quarter-finals of the King’s Cup.

After this incident, Real Madrid denounced a “malicious and repugnant racist and xenophobic act” against his 22-year-old player, a regular target of racist insults, saying he hoped in a press release that the “responsible” be “punished”. An investigation was immediately opened.

The investigations, based in particular on testimonies, made it possible to establish that these four supporters, “identified in high-risk rated matches” within the framework of “violence prevention devices in sport”are suspected of being behind the hanging of this model, underlines the police.