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Soccer-Spanish police arrest Oviedo fan over racist gestures in Real Madrid game
SOCCER-SPAIN/RACISM (PIX):Soccer-Spanish police arrest Oviedo fan over racist gestures in Real Madrid game
Sept 10 (Reuters) - A Real Oviedo supporter has been arrested for directing racist gestures at Real Madrid players when the sides met last month, Spain's National Police said on Wednesday.
"A fan has been arrested for mimicking racist gestures and sounds during a match between Real Oviedo and Real Madrid," the National Police said on its official X account.
"LaLiga reported the incidents after the match held in Oviedo."
The National Police linked to a story in Spanish outlet Marca, which said the arrest was related to an incident in the 37th minute of the game on August 24, when Real Madrid players were celebrating Kylian Mbappe's opening goal in a 3-0 win.
The supporter arrested was identified thanks to the analysis of images and videos from the match, after LaLiga reported monkey gestures and noises made by Real Oviedo fans which were captured by television broadcasts of the game.
One week ago, a man was sentenced to one year in prison for racially abusing Athletic Bilbao forward Inaki Williams during a match at Espanyol's Cornella-El Prat stadium in 2020.
In June, three Valencia supporters were given eight-month sentences for hate crimes against Real Madrid's Vinicius Jr, over racist insults during a match in May last year, the first conviction for racist insults in a soccer stadium in Spain.
In Spain, prison sentences of less than two years for non-violent crimes rarely require a defendant without previous convictions to serve jail time.
(Reporting by Trevor Stynes Editing by Toby Davis)
