Four UK soccer fans who were filmed as theyphysically stopped a black man from boarding a Paris Métro train in a nasty incident of racial abuse were banned Wednesday by a London court from going to soccer games.
London’s Metropolitan Police named the men as Richard Barklie, William Simpson and Josh Parsons, each banned for five years, and Jordan Munday, who received a three-year ban.
The incident occurred before a February match between London club Chelsea and French side Paris Saint-Germain.
The amateur video, obtained by UK newspaper The Guardian and posted on its website, showed the man make multiple attempts to board a train at the Richelieu-Drouot station, only to be pushed away each time by a group of passengers.
The group, which appeared to be Chelsea supporters, could then be heard chanting: “We’re racist, we’re racist and that’s the way we like it.”
The man in the video, which was widely shared on social media, was later identified as Souleymane S., a 33-year-old Parisian on his way home from work.
The bans, handed down at the Thames Magistrates’ Court, mean the four men will not be able to attend soccer matches at home or abroad.
The judge, Gareth Branston, said Barklie, 50, a former Northern Ireland police officer, had “demonstrated aggressive, disorderly conduct.”
He described the men’s behavior as “abhorrent, nasty, offensive, arrogant and utterly unacceptable.”
Chelsea said it was making no comment on the sentences.
But in a statement released at the time the video emerged, the club said it supported criminal action against whoever was responsible, saying “such behavior is abhorrent and has no place in football or society.”
The incident made headlines worldwide, drawing condemnation from Chelsea coach José Mourinho, the club’s secretive Russian owner, Roman Abramovich, and even French President François Hollande.
Chief Superintendent Colin Morgan, from the Metropolitan Police’s Public Order Branch, said Wednesday there were 224 people in the London area alone who are subject to soccer banning orders.
“This work forms an important part of policing football and reducing the risk of violence and disorder at football matches both at home and abroad,” he said.
“Violence and racism have no place in football and we will continue to put offenders before the courts as part of our efforts to make football a safer environment for everyone.”
As reported by CNN