Spanish police open probe into anti-Muslim chants at friendly match with Egypt

Police in Spain said on Wednesday that they were investigating “Islamophobic and xenophobic” chants heard during the Spain-Egypt international football match in Barcelona.

Egypt’s national anthem was jeered ahead of the 0-0 draw in Barcelona on Tuesday in a pre-World Cup friendly and authorities at the RCDE Stadium appealed to fans more than once over the public announcement system to refrain from making offensive comments.

It was the latest in a string of similar incidents to overshadow Spanish football in recent years, with Real Madrid’s Brazilian attacker Vinicius Junior in particular repeatedly racially abused.

“We are investigating yesterday’s Islamophobic and xenophobic chants at RCDE Stadium during the Spain-Egypt friendly match,” Catalonia’s regional police force, the Mossos d’Esquadra, wrote on X.

The announcement came shortly after Spain’s Justice Minister Felix Bolanos condemned the incident, saying that “racist insults and chants embarrass us as a society”.

“The far right will not leave any space free from their hatred, and those who remain silent today will be complicit, ” he added on X.

“We continue working for a country that is tolerant and respectful of everyone.”

Spain’s football federation and coach Luis de la Fuente had also condemned the behaviour of a section of the 35,000 crowd.

“It’s intolerable,” De la Fuente told reporters as soon as he sat down in the press conference room after the match.

“Violent people use football to carve out a space for themselves. They must be removed from society, identified, and kept as far away as possible,” the 64-year-old added.

Rafael Louzan, president of the Spanish Football Federation, called the incident “specific and isolated situations”.

“What we’ve done is condemn these kinds of attitudes and to say they must not be repeated,” he said.

The game in Barcelona was moved from Qatar due to the US-Israel war on Iran and was played out in a hostile environment from the start.