British police asked professional football authorities on Friday for better cooperation in tackling racism online and in stadiums.
Several players like Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford at Manchester United, or Reece James, at Chelsea, have been the target of racist insults and attacks on social media in recent weeks.
According to the BBC, Deputy Police Chief Mark Roberts, in charge of British football security, fears an increase in hate speech and acts when supporters can return to the stadium after health measures are lifted.
“Before the confinement, we were already seeing an increase (in acts of a racist nature),” Mark Roberts told the BBC, asking clubs to “prepare” now.
“It has happened that the police have tried to contact a player and have hit a wall at club level,” he added. “And the player openly asks himself the question: + What is the police doing? Why are they not contacting me? +”.
He would now like to see the four professional divisions (Premier League, Championship, League One and League Two) carry out a weekly monitoring of racist acts. And each club would have a police liaison officer on match days to better manage them.
Mark Roberts also denounced the inaction of those responsible for the giants of social networks (Facebook, Twitter …).
But Twitter already let it be known two weeks ago that it did not intend to censor comments coming from anonymous accounts: “We believe that everyone has the right to share their opinion without needing to present an ID. . The use of pseudonyms is a vital tool for expressing oneself in oppressive regimes. Its role is just as critical in democratic societies, “replied the social network.