Spanish police confirmed on last Tuesday that three people have arrested following suspicion of hanging an effigy of Real Madrid forward Vinicius Junior off a bridge in January.
The arrests came two days after further racial abuses were directed at the Brazilian star during a match in the Spanish LaLiga sparking outrage both at home and abroad.
“Three of them are active members of an ultra group of supporters of a Madrid club.” police said.
The model, who was wearing a Vinicius Junior jersey, was discovered hanging on January 26, the day Real Madrid defeated Atlético Madrid 3-1 in the Copa del Rey quarter-finals, under a banner that said “Madrid hates Real.”
Real Madrid said it strongly condemned the incident, which it believed to be a hate crime.
“Every round away from home is an unpleasant surprise. And there were many this season. Death wishes, hanged doll, many criminal screams. All registered.” Vinicius tweeted on Monday.
“But the speech always falls on ‘isolated cases’, ‘a fan’. No, these are not isolated cases. They are continuous episodes spread across several cities in Spain (and even in a television programme).” Vinicius added.
The Spanish league has made nine similar formal complaints over racist abuse against Vinícius over the past two seasons, most of which have been shelved.
“The evidence is there in the video. Now I ask: how many of these racists had names and photos exposed on websites? I answer to make it easier: zero. None to tell a sad story or make those fake public apologies.” Vinicius said.
“What is missing to criminalise these people? And punish clubs sportingly? Why don’t sponsors charge LaLiga? Don’t televisions bother to broadcast this barbarity every weekend?” he added.
The racist behaviour was also condemned by Spanish politicians. The prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, said there should be zero tolerance for racism in football.
