POLITICAL leaders and footballing chiefs in Britain on Monday (12) came down strongly at social media racial abuse targetted at Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka after England lost in EURO 2020 finals on Sunday (11).
Prime minister Boris Johnson- who himself came under criticism earlier for refusing to condemn fans who had booed English players' campaign against racism- took to Twitter to slam the racial abuse, saying that “those responsible for this appalling abuse should be ashamed of themselves”.
While some people identifying as England fans used racial slurs in blaming the trio for the defeat, other offensive messages were accompanied with "forza italia" hashtags.
Home secretary Priti Patel said that she is disgusted over “vile racist abuse on social media”.
London mayor Sadiq Khan also took to Twitter to lambaste the social media abuse targeted towards England’s black football team member.
England manager Gareth Southgate said the online invective was "unforgivable".
"Some of it has come from abroad, we have been told this, but some of it is from this country," he told reporters on Monday (12) during a press conference.
"We have been a beacon of light to bring people together and the national team stands for everybody."
Prince William, the FA's president who attended the final with his wife Kate and son George, said he was "sickened" by the abuse.
UEFA said it "strongly condemns the disgusting racist abuse" and that "we stand by the players and the English FA's call for the strongest possible punishments."
Strongly condemning all forms of discrimination and racism, the Football Association released statement on Twitter calling for “toughest possible punishment” for those responsible.
England's players have made a strong stand against racism at the tournament, taking a knee before their games.
Social media companies, Twitter and Facebook, are also being criticised for failure to act fast enough to tackle a flood of racial abuse directed at Black England soccer players though Facebook said it had "quickly removed comments and accounts directing abuse" at the footballers.
"No one thing will fix this challenge overnight, but we're committed to keeping our community safe from abuse," it added.
London police said they were aware of "a number of offensive and racist social media comments", calling it "totally unacceptable" and promising an investigation.
Greater Manchester Police in northwest England meanwhile said they were treating the defacement of a mural in the city in honour of Rashford as a "racist incident" as obscenities and Saka's name were daubed over the artwork.
