News

'Racist' badges sold outside Arsenal's Emirates Stadium

September 20, 2012 09:05

BySandy Rashty, Sandy Rashty

1 min read

Badges displaying antisemitic slogans were reportedly sold at a stall outside the Emirates Football stadium, the north London home of Arsenal football club, during the match against Southampton last Saturday afternoon.

The offensive badges, which allegedly stated “F*** off Yids”, were being sold by two men on the corner of Elfort Road, Islington.

A complainant reported this to uniformed officers at a nearby police van, but said the three officers were “not interested” and told him to register his upset by calling the general 101 number.

“I told them they had the power to arrest people selling the badges and close down the stall as it was [potentially] a racially aggravated public order offence — but [the] officer wasn’t interested and wouldn’t accept that it was offensive.

“Even though I said that the Yids bit was clearly racist, one officer said that the CPS would have no interest in the report.

“I thought Islington Council would have done something… they license these stalls, and if they know about it they should revoke their licences.”

The term “Yids” is used by rival fans against those of Tottenham Hotspur, widely perceived as a “Jewish” supported club. The term is also chanted with defiant pride by Tottenham fans.

Cllr Paul Smith, Islington Council’s executive member for the environment, said: “We take all complaints from residents very seriously and are investigating this report.”