In the course of their investigation into racist attacks on the Internet after the England team lost the European Championship final, the British police arrested 11 people. Ten men and one woman between the ages of 18 and 63 are suspected of having sent racist comments to players of the “Three Lions” in online networks, as the investigators announced on Thursday.
The British police unit UKFPU, set up specifically for football events, launched an investigation into hate crimes after the final on July 12th. The investigators classified 207 posts as criminal. 123 of these were sent from online accounts outside the UK. Corresponding information about these accounts is currently being passed on to the responsible authorities in the respective countries, the police said.
“There are people who think they can hide behind a social media profile”
In the UK, 34 accounts have been identified and eleven of the profile owners have now been arrested on suspicion of a number of criminal offenses. “There are people who think they can hide behind a social media profile and get away with posting such horrific comments,” Police Chief Mark Roberts said.
England lost the final of the European Football Championship against Italy on penalties in mid-July. As a result, three young black players in particular, Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka, who shot their penalties, became the target of racist agitation on the Internet.
