A man has been arrested after reports of racist abuse directed towards Bournemouth footballer Antoine Semenyo during his team’s Premier League game against Liverpool at Anfield.
The incident happened on Friday 15 August during the opening game of the season. The suspect was identified and removed from the stadium soon after the report was made.
A 47-year-old man from Liverpool was arrested the following day, Saturday 16 August, on suspicion of a racially aggravated public order offence. He has been taken into custody for questioning.
Chief Inspector Kev Chatterton, who was match commander at Anfield, said: “Merseyside Police will not tolerate hate crime of any form. We take incidents like this very seriously and in cases like this we will be proactively seeking football banning orders, with the club, against those responsible.”
He added: “There is no place for racism and it is vital that anyone who witnesses such an offence reports it to stewards or the police immediately, so we can take the necessary action like we did this evening.”
A Liverpool Football Club spokesperson said: “Liverpool Football Club is aware of an allegation of racist abuse made during our Premier League game against Bournemouth. We condemn racism and discrimination in all forms, it has no place in society or football. The club is unable to comment further as tonight’s alleged incident is the subject of an ongoing police investigation, which we will support fully.”
Police are reminding the public that hate crimes can be reported directly to Merseyside Police by calling 101 or via social media, and anonymously through Crimestoppers. Victims can also use the 24-hour confidential helpline operated by Stop Hate UK.
Background info:
• The Football Association has powers to sanction clubs if racist incidents are proven to have taken place within stadiums.
• The Crown Prosecution Service works closely with police to pursue prosecutions for racist abuse at football matches.
• Kick It Out, football’s equality and inclusion charity, recorded more than one thousand reports of discriminatory abuse across the professional game last season.