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‘They attacked me because i’m black’

Racist attack victim speaks out and demands fans are punished

The victim of the racist attack by Chelsea fans in Paris called yesterday for those involved to be “found, punished and locked up.”

French newspaper Le Parisien revealed his name to be Souleymane S, who said that he couldn’t bare to tell his wife and children that he had been racially abused on the train home on Tuesday evening.

The travelling Blues fans, in France for the Champions League match against Paris St Germain that night, were filmed preventing Souleymane from boarding a Paris Metro train home and chanted: “We’re racist and that’s the way we like it.”

Retelling his ordeal, he said: “These people, these English supporters, have to be found, punished and should be locked up. What happened shouldn’t go unpunished.

“I understood that they were attacking me because of the colour of my skin.

“I wanted to get into the carriage but a group of English supporters blocked me and pushed me away. I tried to force my way on, I again tried to go back. In the jostling, I lost my phone.

“They were saying things in English to me but I wasn’t understanding what they were saying. I don’t speak a word of English.

“I understood that they were Chelsea supporters and I made the link with the PSG match which was taking place on the same evening.

“No traveller came to my defence but what could they do? You know, I live with racism, I wasn’t truly surprised by what was happening to me even if it was a first for me on the Metro.

“The Metro train left, and I waited for the next one.

“I went back to my home without talking to anyone about this story, not my wife or my children. What could I say to my children? That dad was shoved on the Metro because he is black? That wouldn’t be any use.”

Souleymane plans to report the incident to the French police, who are working with British authorities to identify those involved.

“I didn’t know that I’d been filmed,” he said.

“The fact I’m now talking about this gives me the courage to make a complaint to the police. I’m going to try to do that  (Thursday) if I have time, because I also have to work. In any case, I intend to turn to anti-racist associations.”

Chelsea released a statement describing the incident as “abhorrent” and vowed to take the “strongest possible” action if supporters are found to be involved, while QPR caretaker manager Chris Ramsey called on football authorities to maintain a hard-line stance against racism and tackle offenders.

“It would be good to know what the authorities are going to do to weed these people out and what sanctions they will enforce to make this an avoidable situation in the future,” he said.

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