Spanish police arrest suspects of racist acts against Vini Jr; three are released soon after

*This report was updated at 14pm on Tuesday (23)

Among the suspects arrested, 4 were believed to be responsible for arresting a doll wearing the Brazilian striker's uniform on a bridge in the Spanish capital at the end of January, the police announced this Tuesday (23)

The arrests took place two days after the 22-year-old Brazilian star was the target of new racist insults during a Spanish championship match in Valencia, which sparked a wave of indignation across the planet.

The four people detained in Madrid are considered allegedly responsible for a “hate crime”, Spanish police said in a statement. Three are “active members of a radical group of fans of a Madrid club”, adds the note.

“Disgusting act”

The doll, which had a Vini Jr uniform, was hung to simulate a hanging on January 26, after Real Madrid's 3-1 victory against Atlético de Madrid in the quarter-finals of the Copa del Rey. Next to the doll was a banner with the phrase “Madrid hates Real”.

After the attack, Real Madrid denounced a “regrettable and disgusting act of racism, xenophobia and hatred” against the Brazilian and stated that they expected the investigation of “all responsibilities of those who participated in such a despicable act”.

The investigation, based mainly on testimonies, made it possible to establish that the four fans, “identified during matches considered high risk within the sport's violence prevention devices, were the alleged perpetrators” of the attack, highlighted the police.

Others arrested for racist attacks at stadium

The Spanish police also announced this Tuesday morning (23) the arrest in Valencia (east) of three young people suspected of making racist insults against striker Vinícius Júnior.

“The police detained three young people in Valencia for racist behavior that occurred last Sunday in the game between Valencia CF and Real Madrid”, reported the National Police, which opened an investigation after the events that provoked a wave of indignation, in Spain and abroad.

Read also

What is racism? How does it occur and why is it important to combat it?

While black and brown people make up 54% of the Brazilian population, they represent 84% of those killed in police actions, according to data from the Brazilian Public Security Forum. The organization also reveals that 2 out of every 3 people incarcerated in the country are black. Racism and racial slurs became a crime in Brazil around 30 years ago. But, according to experts, the forms of racial discrimination are diverse and are part of everyday life in society. O Curto explains what the main forms of racism are and the concepts you need to understand about the racial issue in Brazil.

Brazil will call Itamaraty to act in the Vini Jr. case.

The Ministry of Racial Equality (MIR) reported this Sunday (21) that it will call authorities in Spain to take action following yet another case of racism suffered by Brazilian player Vini Jr., Real Madrid striker, in his team's game against Valencia . The Spanish ambassador to Brazil should also be called to talk about the case. President Lula spoke about the episode while still in Japan, when he was participating in the G7 summit.

'LaLiga has a problem with racism', says Ancelotti in defense of Vini Jr.

“LaLiga has a problem with racism,” declared Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti, commenting on the insults received by Brazilian striker Vinicius Junior in the match in which the team was defeated 1-0 by Valencia on Sunday.

* The text of this article was partially generated by artificial intelligence tools, state-of-the-art language models that assist in the preparation, review, translation and summarization of texts. Text entries were created by the Curto News and responses from AI tools were used to improve the final content.
It is important to highlight that AI tools are just tools, and the final responsibility for the published content lies with the Curto News. By using these tools responsibly and ethically, our objective is to expand communication possibilities and democratize access to quality information. 🤖