Berlin (AFP)
Borussia Mönchengladbach is said to be "stunned" by the avalanche of racist comments that has swept through its site and its social networks since the club's actions in favor of the "Black Lives Matter" movement in recent days.
"Last Friday, said the club in an online editorial, we released a video AGAINST RACISM, jointly with Borussia Dortmund, Schalke 04 and FC Cologne".
"What we have suffered since in the comments leaves us dumbfounded," said the club, Marcus Thuram, the first footballer to have put his knees on the ground after the death of George Floyd.
"We continue to clean up the many racist, hateful and contemptuous comments!", Adds the club, which goes even further, openly asking its members "who do not share these values of Borussia Mönchengladbach, to terminate their membership", in claiming to be "deeply ashamed" of these supporters.
Borussia, on the model of the large German association clubs, has more than 150,000 members. The editorial also thanks "the majority of supporters who try to contradict (these hateful comments) with reasonable arguments and facts".
In the aftermath of the worldwide protest movement after the death of George Floyd, an American black man killed in late May by police in Minneapolis, some Bundesliga players first showed signs of solidarity, as individuals, before several clubs, including Bayern Munich, did not follow suit last week, either by making the team knee down, or by wearing T-shirts, shirts or armbands flocked with anti-racism slogans.
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