London (AFP)

The "White Lives Matter" banner fired on Monday by an airplane flying over the football match between Manchester City and Burnley was strongly criticized on Tuesday in England, while the police are looking for those responsible.

A plane pulling a banner "White Lives Matter Burnley" appeared in the sky shortly after all the actors of the match had kneeled to pay homage to the movement "Black Lives Matter" (BLM) which fights against racism and violence policewomen.

This collective gesture has taken place before all matches since the Premier League resumed on June 17.

"The goal of BLM is not to diminish the importance of the lives of other people," said Sanjay Bhandari, president of Kick It Out, which fights discrimination in English football.

"It is important to emphasize that black people are deprived of certain human rights only because of their skin color. It is a question of equality," he continued.

"We are carrying out all the checks to establish the detailed circumstances surrounding this incident," Lancashire police said in a mid-day statement.

"We recognize that this banner will have offended many people," added Russ Procter, the regional police chief quoted in the release, but the police have yet to determine whether it constitutes a crime or an offense.

"The words (" White Lives Matter ") are not insulting in themselves," said Iffy Onuora, head of equality for the Professional Footballers 'Association (PFA), the players' union.

"This is just the context. They show rejection of the current debate," he added.

The Burnley club immediately condemned the banner.

"The club is proud of the work done through its community programs recognized in collaboration with all genders, all religions or all beliefs, and opposes any form of racism", according to a press release from Burnley, who promises to ban from its stadium the authors of the banner.

"White Lives Matter", frequently used by the European far right, is a slogan born in white supremacist circles in the United States in reaction to the BLM movement.

On June 13 in Paris, during a demonstration against racism and police violence, the extreme right group Génération Identitaire had displayed a banner with this slogan from the roof of a building along the procession.

"At the moment, we don't know who is behind this," admitted Piara Powar, executive director of Football Against Racism in Europe (Fare), an anti-racist NGO.

"Opposed to BLM's message, + White Lives Matter + can only be motivated by racism and the denial of equal rights. Racist reactions to the BLM movement are a trend in Europe that we have noticed and documented," added Mr. Powar.

© 2020 AFP