JAKARTA – Terror of racism through social media has been widely launched after England's defeat to Italy in the Euro Final, Sunday, July 11, at Wembley Stadium, London. However, when investigated by the police, suddenly the “digital rioters” admitted that their accounts had been hacked.
Greater Manchester Police said a 37-year-old man had turned himself in at Cheadle Heath police station on Wednesday, July 14. He has now been arrested for posting racist comments on social media aimed at English footballers after the Euro 2020 final.
Police are yet to reveal the man's identity at this stage. They only said that the man was from Ashton-Upon-Mersey. He was arrested on suspicion of offenses under the Dangerous Communications Act and remains in custody for further questioning.
The incident came after Andrew Bone, a 37-year-old building manager from Greater Manchester, was suspended by his employer Savills for racist tweets about an English footballer. After being reported, he contacted the police and claimed his Twitter account had been hacked when the post surfaced on Sunday evening, July 11.
“The actions of a small number of people overshadowed what was a very unifying event for our country on Sunday night. We are firm in our commitment, any racist harassment whether online or offline is unacceptable. We now have one person in custody and our investigation continues," Detective Inspector Matt Gregory said.
Two men were also arrested by West Mercia Police amid racist abuse targeting Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka following England's loss to Italy on penalties. A 50-year-old man from Powick, was also detained on suspicion of inciting racial hatred online.
Media reports said the tweet contained a tweet calling Rashford's MBE title "needs to be burned for being fake" and adding he should return to his "own country".
Police also arrested and released a man in his 60s from Shropshire after racist comments surfaced on Facebook. The man, identified as a member of the council later resigned from the Pontesbury Parish Council. He also said his Facebook account had been hacked.
The investigation was launched after the chaos at Wembley on Sunday, when ticketless fans forced their way into the stadium. Police are also investigating "random attacks on Italians" launched by British fans after the final.
“We have seen random attacks on Italians… Italians celebrating victory have been attacked. We haven't seen a large number but they are too many. We saw this incident when England lost a tournament, and they were targeting foreign nationals."
Security in England continue to collect reports of a number of incidents targeting Italian supporters, after their team won Euro 2020 on penalties.
More than 2,300 racist incidents related to the Euro have been recorded in the UK. This number exceeds the racist incidents at the 2018 World Cup. This racist incident in England has made Euro 2020 the football tournament with the worst racist and crime record in history.
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