A 21-year-old man, name withheld, has been arrested by the metropolitan police in Retford, Nottinghamshire, England on Monday morning in connection with tweets deemed racist and hateful towards Premier League club, Chelsea.
Recall that a number of Premier League players have been subjected to racial attacks lately, including Chelsea’s Reece James, Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford, Axel Tuanzebe and Anthony Martial and West Brom’s Romaine Sawyers.
The league management and clubs have all condemned the act and called on the government to take action against trolls on the internet.
Announcing the arrest, the police tweeted, “This morning, @MPSFootballUnit officers assisted by @NottPolFootball attended an address in Retford and arrested a 21-year-old male under the Malicious Communications Act. This was in response to an investigation into a number of Hate Crime messages that were posted in 2020.”
Meanwhile, Chelsea have since welcomed the arrest and vowed to support the police in their investigations of related issues.
“We welcome today’s arrest which shows that hateful messages shared on social media do have consequences.
“We continue to work closely with the police to support their investigations on this important issue,” Chelsea responded.
We welcome today’s arrest which shows that hateful messages shared on social media do have consequences.
We continue to work closely with the police to support their investigations on this important issue. https://t.co/zTBdt6Ae5m
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) February 8, 2021
Inspector Matt Ashmead from the Metropolitan Police’s Central Football Unit, added: “This action proves that the internet is no safe refuge for trolls to target people with hateful, offensive or racist abuse.
“Online abuse is not victimless and we will look to identify those responsible and take action.”
-Sky Sports
