Police to investigate online r@cist abuse aimed at Jude Bellingham and Bukayo Saka during Euro 2024

Police are set to investigate the online racist abuse suffered by England stars Bukayo Saka and Jude Bellingham during Euro 2024.  The Football Association have referred to a UEFA report that reveals Arsenal winger Saka and Real Madrid midfielder Bellingham suffered the most serious online abuse during the Germany tournament, as per Mail Sport.  Authorities can intervene with cases of online abuse due to the Online Safety Act and police have now been made aware of horrific messages Saka and Bellingham were sent.  The FA has provided funding of around 25,000 to facilitate prosecutions in regards to online abuse of their players.  Saka was subject to the most tier one comments with 50, whereas Bellingham received 40, as shown by a UEFA report.  Tier one comments are classified by UEFA as being the most harmful and recognised as a candidate for prosecution according to law.  Racist abuse falls under the tier one category.  Saka was additionally the target of horrendous racial abuse following the Euro 2020 final versus Italy.  Going into the tournament, Mark Roberts, the National Police Chiefs Council lead for football policing, stated: We were conscious after events at the Euros (2020) when there was horrific abuse of some of our black players.  So we responded to that, we did investigations and we were able to prosecute some people arising from that.  What we were very keen to do was to speak to the squad and make sure they are aware that we are committed to this, we treat it seriously and advise them how to protect themselves.  But equally, it is better if you can deal with something in advance rather than after the event to try and explain what we can do.  We explained the reporting methods and that if things come in from other routes we will investigate it.The post Police to investigate online r@cist abuse aimed at Jude Bellingham and Bukayo Saka duringEuro2024 appeared first on Linda Ikeji Blog.