London (AFP)
A plane drawing a banner "White Lives Matter Burnley", a far-right slogan against the anti-racism movement "Black Lives Matter", flew over Manchester City stadium at the very start of the match against Burnley for the 31st day of the Premier League, Monday.
A few minutes after the two teams, their staffs and the referees had put their knees on the ground in tribute to the anti-racism movement and to fight against police violence, the plane made a few laps in the sky before leaving.
The Burnley club quickly reacted in a statement to "strongly condemn" the banner and those responsible for this operation.
"This in no way represents what the Burnley Football Club is fighting for and we will cooperate with the authorities to identify those responsible and take the appropriate measures," the club continued in its statement.
"We want to make it clear that not everyone responsible is welcome at Turf Moor," the club's stadium.
In recent years, English football has been very harsh on supporters with racist or homophobic behavior, not hesitating to ban them for life from stadiums.
Burnley, a former mining and industrial town in the north of England, was one of the theaters, in July 2001, of racial riots which had also affected Leeds, Oldham or Bradford, and the far-right party British National Party had some electoral successes there in the early 2000s.
Premier League players unanimously decided to kneel down for the first Premier League resumption matches, a move popularized by protests following the death of African-American father George Floyd killed by a police at the end of May in Minneapolis, in the United States.
The slogan "Black Lives Matter" also appears on the back of all jerseys in place of the players' names and will remain on a badge until the end of the season.
© 2020 AFP