Real Madrid and La Liga condemn harassment of Barcelona players – DW – 27.10.2024

Real Madrid on Sunday strongly condemned the racist behavior of its fans during the El Clasico football match, in which Madrid defeated rivals FC Barcelona 4-0 on Saturday.

Many Black Barcelona players, including 17-year-old phenomenon and Spanish national team player Lamine Yamal, faced racist insults during the match.

For example, Yamal became the target of abuse after becoming the youngest player to score in El Clasico, the name of the match between Spain’s two biggest clubs.

Real, Spain’s La Liga club and football body RFEF, as well as numerous governments and police forces, condemned the situation and promised swift and harsh punishments for the perpetrators.

La Liga and its board strongly condemn the scourge of racism

Real Madrid released the following statement on Sunday, saying it had already launched an investigation: “Real Madrid strongly condemns any act of racism, xenophobia or violence in football and sport and is deeply saddened by the insults uttered last night by several fans in one of the corners of the stadium.”

“La Liga will immediately report any racist insults and gestures received by Barcelona players to the Hate Crimes Section of the National Police Information Brigade and will also inform the Coordinating Prosecutor of the Hate Crimes and Discrimination Unit of the State Attorney General’s Office.” a league statement.

“La Liga strongly condemns the events at the Santiago Bernabeu and remains committed to eliminating all forms of racist behavior and hatred inside and outside stadiums.”

RFEF, Spanish football’s governing body, has vowed zero tolerance for racist abuse and violence, describing racism as a “social evil”.

In the past, RFEF and La Liga have gone so far as to close stadiums for such behavior.

Spain’s Supreme Council of Sports (CSD) said its Commission Against Violence, Racism, Xenophobia and Intolerance will meet on Monday to discuss the case.

Beyond sports organizations – the Spanish government steps in

Spain’s Minister of Inclusion and Immigration, Elma Saiz, was among the people in the government who raised their voices against the incident.

He wrote on social media platform “We will not allow attacks that we do not tolerate in other fields to become normalized in sports.”

Minister of Education, Professional Development and Sports Pilar Alegria wrote the following about X: “Neither racism, nor insults nor violence have a place in the sports of our country.”

Spanish football has long grappled with the problem of racism in stadiums and has recently received help from prosecutors and judges.

In June, three Valencia fans were sentenced to eight months in prison for abuse targeting Real Madrid’s Vinicius Jr.

Vinicius made headlines and received a lot of global support a year ago in May 2023 for confronting abusive fans at Valencia’s Mastella Stadium.

In December 2023, four Atletico Madrid fans were accused of a separate racist incident targeting Vinicius. Prosecutors are seeking a four-year prison sentence for each.

And this week, four more people suspected of being involved in organizing an online hate campaign against Vinicius were arrested.

The Brazilian supported Yamal and his Barcelona teammates, writing about X: “There is no place for these criminals in our society. I know Madrid and the police will do what is necessary to identify and punish the criminals.”

js/jsi (AFP, Reuters)