At the start of the European Championship tournament, British Home Secretary Priti Patel criticized the Black Lives Matter movement, which she said was “devastating” in the UK, and she then refused to condemn some English fans who bowed when the players went down on their knees before the match. as a stance against racism.
– I just can not support people who participate in that kind of political gesturing, Patel said about the players to GB News – and added that it was “up to everyone” how to react to it.
Neither did Prime Minister Boris Johnson explicitly want to condemn the booing, although he urged fans to “cheer instead of booing.”
Now those statements have become a burden to the government.
The racist hatred as Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka were exposed on social media after the penalty shootout in the European Championship final has upset many in England and led to a police investigation.
Boris Johnson and Priti Patel have condemned the attacks to which the players have been subjected. But national team defender Tyrone Mings, on a daily basis at Aston Villa, believes that this is hypocrisy.
https://twitter.com/OfficialTM_3/status/1414655312074784785?s=20
“It is not possible to fan the flames at the beginning of the tournament by labeling our anti-racist message as ‘politically gesticulating’ and then pretending to be surprised when exactly what we campaigned against happens,” Mings wrote on Twitter, commenting on the interior minister’s distancing from racist on the jump.
Mings is backed by Conservative MP Johnny Mercer, as in a Twitter post writes that “this guy is absolutely right”. Mercer believes that it is “about empathy with compatriots who are exposed to terrible attacks. Empathy. What it’s like to be in their place. It’s not hard”.
From the left opposition in Labor, the tone is not unexpectedly even harsher – but what hurts the government the most is the criticism from players and coaches. Former national team player Gary Neville is among those who direct ruthless criticism of Johnson.
– The Prime Minister said that it was okay for people to boycott players who tried to promote equality and fight racism. It starts at the top. “I was not in the least surprised when I woke up to these headlines, I expected them as soon as I saw that the three players had missed,” Neville told Sky News.
There is now a lot of pressure on the authorities to find those responsible for the racist hate crimes. According to the newspaper The Times Ministers in the government have asked several large technology companies to produce information about which individuals are behind it, so that one can “set an example”.
At the same time, Marcus Rashford sends a letter of thanks to all the fans who gave him support after the attacks. In the letter, he takes responsibility for his misdemeanor, and says that he is sorry for it – but he also writes that “I never intend to apologize for who I am and where I come from”.
https://twitter.com/MarcusRashford/status/1414672529717964807?s=20
READ MORE:
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