11 people arrested for racist abuse of England stars
Rashford and Sancho lead the English players most exposed to bullying and racist abuse.
AFP
English police have arrested 11 people, so far, during investigations into online racist abuse of England players following the loss of the European Football Championship (Euro 2020) final against Italy.
British news agency (BA Media) reported that the trio of Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka were victims of abuse after missing a penalty kick in the match that was held at Wembley Stadium last month.
The UK Football Police said that of the 207 social media posts that were categorized as criminal, 123 were owned by people outside the UK.
It added that the details of these people and the issues related to them have been forwarded to the countries in which they reside for action.
So far, 34 accounts have been identified in the United Kingdom, where 11 account holders have been arrested.
"There are people who think they can hide behind social media and post offensive comments like that," said Mark Roberts, chief of football for the National Police Chiefs' Council.
He added, "They need to think again, we have investigators who are looking for all the offensive comments related to that match, and if they face a criminal threshold on their part, they will be arrested."
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