The National Police have arrested four people accused of hanging a black doll with the Real Madrid player VinÃcius Junior’s shirt on a bridge near the white team’s sports complex last January. This was announced this Tuesday by the Police account via Twitter in full controversy over the racist insults the striker received last Sunday in the Valencia field.
Those arrested are four men between the ages of 19 and 24, three of them active members of the ultra group Frente Atlético, and all are accused of a hate crime, according to reports from the National Police.
The events occurred in the days prior to the Madrid derby of the Copa del Rey between Real Madrid and Atlético de Madrid. The authors were members of the ultra groups of the mattress team and, in addition to the mannequin, they also hung a banner with the slogan: “Madrid hates Real”.
At that time, the Anti-Violence Commission announced that it was opening an investigation to clarify the facts and, shortly after, in February, it was announced that the Police had managed to identify six ultras from Atlético de Madrid as the perpetrators of the events. The two clubs openly condemned the action and the government delegate in Madrid, Mercedes González, called it “pure racism and hatred.” However, after the months, no further news on the matter emerged until today.
The police intervention comes at a time when the racist insults that the white player received last Sunday in the match between Valencia and Madrid have put this type of situation in the eye of the hurricane, unfortunately common in Spanish football and, especially, against VinÃcius himself. The white club denounced the insults against the player on Monday before the Prosecutor’s Office, which finally opened proceedings for an alleged hate crime.
Likewise, the Madrid striker has received numerous signs of support and a large part of the world of football -and beyond- has condemned the events, although a deep (and harsh) debate has been opened on whether the measures adopted by the estates are sufficient football to stop these episodes.
The player himself has denounced this Monday through social networks each and every one of the episodes of racism that he has suffered in the Spanish fields. He has also remembered, of course, the case of the doll hanging from a bridge in Madrid.
