Police make appeal over racist abuse of black footballer on Liverpool bus

Passengers come to support of alleged victim as discriminatory slurs are made

Police are appealing for information after a semi-professional footballer was racially abused on a bus.

Pavel Vieira, 26, said he filmed the offender on his phone to challenge his behaviour in Liverpool on Friday night.

The clip shows Mr Vieira asking the man: “Is there anything wrong with the black people?”

The bald headed man, wearing a beige jacket and holding a shopping bag, replies: “Yeh, you shouldn’t even be here.”

Mr Vieira says: “I shouldn’t be here in England then?

“Yeh,” the man says.

Other passengers on the number 21 bus, heading in the direction of Walton, are then heard to support Mr Vieira as the conversation continued and more racial slurs were delivered.

Police were alerted to the incident shortly after 9.40pm and investigations are ongoing.

 

Bangor City FC 2016/2017

A post shared by Pavel Vieira® (@pavelvieira) on Sep 2, 2016 at 12:30pm PDT

Mr Vieira, who has represented his country Guinea-Bissau, told the Liverpool Echo he wanted to thank the people who stood up for him.

He said: “I would like to meet them and hug them.

“After I got off the bus, more people came up to me and spoke with me and supported me.”

Detective inspector Mark Drew, of Merseyside Police, said “We will not tolerate hate crimes being committed against members of our community and I would like to take this opportunity to reassure people that we have specially trained officers who investigate cases with a view to robust action being taken against offenders.

“Everyone has the right to live peacefully within their community and to go about their daily lives without harassment from others just because they are perceived to be different. We will take the strongest possible action against the offender.”

Anyone who witnessed the incident should contact Merseyside Police social media desk via Twitter MerPolCC or Facebook Merseyside Police CC.

Alternatively, call 101 quoting incident reference 18200067304 or contact the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

PA