Police and football officials are investigating an incident in Paris where a French man was racially abused by a hoard of Chelsea fans, who refused to let him on the metro train.
The man, Sylla Souleymane, reported the incident to police after footage of the incident was released online. Fans of Chelsea FC, were in Paris for the Champions League match against Paris St Germain when the unprovoked attack occurred.
As the man entered the train, he was pushed off while racist taunts were thrown at him.
‘We’re racist, we’re racist and that’s the way we like it,’ the group chanted, as shocked passengers looked on.
The 33 year-old victim, who has called for his attackers to be punished, described his attack, which he knew was racially motivated despite not speaking English.
“I understood that they were attacking me because of the colour of my skin,” he told Le Parisian.
“I wanted to get into the carriage but a group of English supporters blocked me and pushed me away. I tried to force my way on, I again tried to go back. In the jostling, I lost my phone.
“They were saying things in English to me but I wasn’t understanding what they were saying. I don’t speak a word of English.”
“I understood that they were Chelsea supporters and I made the link with the PSG match which was taking place on the same evening.
Initially he didn’t tell anyone about the incident, and went home pretending that everything was normal.
“What could I tell my children? That daddy was shoved around on the Metro because he is black?” he stated in an interview. “That would be pointless,”
“These people, these English fans, need to be found and punished, and should be locked up.”
“What happened should not go unpunished.”
Since the incident Chelsea has indentified and subsequently issued suspensions to three of the racist attackers, one of which has been revealed to be ex-public school boy Josh Parson, who is also believed to be a UKIP supporter.
“Chelsea Football Club is suspending three people from Stamford Bridge as a result of investigations into the incident on the Paris Metro on Tuesday evening,” the club announced on its website.
“We have received substantial information to date following our witness appeal and we are grateful to the many Chelsea supporters who have provided information so far.”
‘Our investigations are on-going and we would request any further information is sent to customer.services@chelseafc.com.
‘We also continue to cooperate fully with the Metropolitan and Paris police forces who lead the ongoing criminal investigation.’
