The controversy has continued to swell since Sunday. Mediapart journalist Ilyes Ramdani, also assistant coach at the Aubervilliers club (N3), had revealed on his twitter account the content of the remarks which would have been made against Youcef Belaïli, the Algerian player from Brest, shortly before half-time of the match Reims – Brest, Sunday (1-1).
“Between the whistles, the middle fingers and the insults, songs that smell of racism: ” We are in France ”, ” One two three, go back to your country …”, wrote Ilyes Ramdani who was sitting at the corner post, near the Reims Kop. If he directly incriminated the Champagne kop, the journalist also denounced individual acts which would have also targeted pro-Belaïli supporters, with Algerian flags.
A video, also posted on Twitter, seems to confirm the racial slurs. The images were filmed by an amateur in the stands, while Youcef Belaïli was about to take a penalty. We hear the voice of a man throwing: “He’s an Arab, he’s an Arab. They piss us off. Long live Eric Zemmour.
According to the newspaper, the Telegram, Stade Brestois “will examine these images”. On Monday, the club had published a joint press release with that of Reims: “Stade Brestois 29 joins Stade de Reims in strongly condemning the comments relayed, if however they prove to have been made. Unspeakable remarks, which have no place in a football stadium or in any other place in our society”.
The press release then specified: “If there is, at the present time, no tangible proof (photos, videos, concordant testimonies) making it possible to characterize the infraction, the two clubs are working together to try to identify the perpetrators of the these alleged insults. This social media video could be a game-changer. To date, Youcef Belaïli has not yet spoken publicly about the insults he would have received.
