February 15 – The French football league (LFP) says it will join a lawsuit against the perpetrators of racist, anti-Semitic and homophobic graffiti targeting Paris St Germain superstar Kylian Mbappe.
The graffiti was discovered in one of the French capital’s metropolitan trains on Tuesday, prompting the International League against Racism and anti-Semitism (LICRA) to file a complaint.
“The LFP will join the lawsuit initiated by LICRA against the authors of this graffiti,” the LFP wrote in a statement. “The LFP condemns the racist, anti-Semitic and homophobic graffiti targeting Kylian Mbappe.”
Mbappe, whose father is from Cameroon and whose mother is of Algerian origin, was born in Paris and was one of the heroes of France’s victorious World Cup campaign in Russia last year.
His display in midweek to help PSG beat Manchester United in the Champions League stole the show but the 20-year-old has also been subjected to unwarranted abuse believed to have been carried out by right-wing groups.
Some of the graffiti contained the N-word and anti-discrimination groups across France have urged an investigation to track down the culprits.
One of the groups, The SOS Racisme and Sportitude, put out the following statement: “By attacking Kylian Mbappe, this or these individual(s) are deliberately attacking the image of France: a diverse France that they cannot stand.
“Kylian Mbappe is a symbol of a mixed-race France that succeeds, a fact that is impossible for some people to accept. This graffiti constitutes a violent attack on a France that brings us all together.
“It must absolutely be denounced and punished, because, in addition to being insulting and denigrating, it’s a move designed to divide.”
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