Madrid: Hotel employee arrested for racism against Morocco’s national team

On Mar 28, 2023

A Madrid hotel employee has been arrested for racist comments posted on social networks against the Moroccan national football team, which is staying at the hotel, Spanish police said on Monday, according to Le Figaro.

The 27-year-old Spanish man was arrested at the hotel around midnight on Sunday. He faces hate crime charges, a municipal police spokeswoman said. The police came to the hotel after a complaint from the hotel’s management about racist statements posted online, the same source added, without giving further details.

Spanish media published photos they said the man had posted on Instagram showing several members of the Moroccan team in the hotel’s restaurant, along with racist remarks.

🔴 HONTEUX !

Voici ce qu’un membre du personnel de l’hôtel où crèchent nos joueurs a publié sur son Instagram personnel :

« On leur sert la m*rde du Ramadan. Leurs p*tains de croyances de 💩💩💩»

« P*tain de maures de m*rde, j'e**erde le Ramadan et leurs p**ains de m*rts ! » pic.twitter.com/nyuLU4WbPc

— TFT MOROCCO (@TFT_Morocco) March 27, 2023

Asked about the incident in a press conference, coach Walid Regragui preferred not to blame the individual even more: “Many players and the Moroccan public have talked about the racism we have suffered. He’s a 19-20-year-old kid, we won’t dwell on that. In our religion, we are taught forgiveness and we forgive him.”

Regragui also hopes that in this way, the person who wrote these words will realise that what he described is completely wrong: “The best example in this Ramadan period is to forgive him, and he will understand that what he thinks of Muslims is not the reality. I don’t want to talk about it anymore.”

Morocco will face Peru in a friendly on Tuesday at Atletico Madrid’s Estadio Metropolitano at 7.30 pm.