Spanish police arrested seven people Tuesday over two incidents of racial abuse targeting Real Madrid’s Brazilian star Vinicius Junior, including one this weekend that sparked an international outcry. Spain’s football league, La Liga, has been engulfed in a racism scandal after the 22-year-old forward was subjected to racist taunts during Sunday’s 1-0 defeat at Valencia and later sent off. The player has been taunted by opposition fans since joining Real in 2018 but the latest incident has kicked up a storm over whether Spain is doing enough to stamp out racism in football. Police on Tuesday arrested three youths in Valencia for “insults and gestures with racist overtones” towards the player that amounted to “an alleged hate crime” during Sunday’s match. After their statements were taken, they were later “released on condition they appear when summoned” by the public prosecutor’s office or the courts, a police spokesman told AFP. ❗️Vinícius Jr. case, summary of some actions in last 48 hours — • Brazil President Lula discussed the issue in G7 summit. • 4 fans who hung Vinícius’ inflatable doll arrested in Madrid.• 3 fans from Valencia identified, arrested & handed life time bans. • Brazil Govt. &… pic.twitter.com/QWZCa1g4rV— Madrid Zone (@theMadridZone) May 23, 2023 Sunday’s game was held up for several minutes and with the referee saying that shouts of “monkey” had been directed at Vinicius. In a statement, Valencia confirmed the arrests, reiterating its “strongest condemnation of racism and violence” and saying the club was acting against those involved “by banning them for life” from their stadium. La Liga strongly replies to Vinicius’ accusations of racismIn Madrid, police arrested another four men suspected of dangling an effigy wearing a Real Madrid shirt with Vinicius’ number on it from a bridge earlier this year. The dark-skinned inflatable dummy was hung by the neck from a bridge near Real Madrid’s training ground several hours before a derby clash with Atletico Madrid on January 26. Above it was a 16-metre banner reading ‘Madrid hates Real’, police said. Investigators said three of the suspects were “active members of a group of radical fans” who had previously been identified as “high risk” by agents working to prevent football violence.”Spain is fighting this behaviour, we condemn it and we are working to eradicate it” government spokeswoman Isabel Rodriguez said Tuesday just hours after Brazil protested to the Spanish ambassador. The Brazilian government also said it would complain to Madrid and La Liga in a statement saying it “deeply regrets that no effective measures have yet been taken to prevent the recurrence of these racist acts”.The world goes crazy after Vini’s bitter night at MestallaMeanwhile, La Liga said it would request more sanctioning power to act against fans for violent, racist or xenophobic behaviour, saying it felt “powerless” when its incident reports failed to have an impact. “Giving La Liga greater sanctioning capacity would be an effective tool to boost the fight against racism in sport,” it said in a statement, indicating it wanted the power to impose stadium closures, to ban fans for instigating offences or to impose fines. ##NAJAVA_MECA_7277210##There is growing anger in Brazil over the incident, with the lights on the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro turned off for an hour in solidarity with the player. “Black and imposing” Vinicius tweeted of the darkened statue, saying he was moved and thanking followers for their support. “But I want, above all, to inspire and bring more light to our fight” he added.© Agence France-Presse
