Four people involved in a hate campaign targeting Real Madrid striker Vinicius Junior, before the Madrid derby between Real and Atlético on September 29 (1-1), were arrested, Spanish police announced on Thursday .
Identified, according to the Spanish press, as supporters of Atlético, the latter are considered to be the alleged instigators of the “#metropolitanoconmascarillas (Metropolitano with masks)” campaign which has gone viral on social networks, where they called for people to come and attend the Madrid derby with surgical masks over their mouths to be able to freely insult opposing players, especially Vinicius.
The Spanish football league then filed a complaint for inciting hatred, the reason given by the police for their arrest, which took place on October 14 and 15. They are accused of having incited supporters to go to the stadium “to utter humiliating and discriminatory insults with racist connotations”, explains the police in its press release without directly naming the Brazilian striker, victim of numerous racist acts on the sidelines of La Liga matches since his arrival in Spain in 2018, particularly from Colchoneros supporters.
Three criminal convictions in recent months
In June 2023, four ultra Atlético supporters, accused of hanging a mannequin bearing the likeness of Vinicius Jr from a bridge in the Spanish capital, were banned from stadiums for two years by the Spanish authorities. The criminal proceedings opened against them are still ongoing.
On September 26, a supporter of the Spanish club Mallorca was also sentenced to 12 months in prison and three years banned from stadiums for racist insults targeting Real Madrid star and ex-Villarreal player Samuel Chukwueze. This was the third criminal conviction handed down in recent months for racist insults against Real Madrid players, including Vinicius Junior.
On June 10, three Valencia supporters were also sentenced to eight months in prison for having uttered racist insults in their club’s stadium in May 2023, already targeting the Brazilian striker.
These incidents, which caused a wave of international indignation, had ignited the debate in Spain, where cases of racism have been frequent for several decades in football stadiums, despite the work of the authorities. Having become a figure in the fight against racism in Spanish football, Vinicius Jr was often the target, but only some of these incidents resulted in sanctions.
