Man, 21, arrested by police investigating 'monkey' gesture made towards Premier League footballer



Police launch investigation into the alleged gesture made during Sunderland's match against West Bromwich Albion

Police have a 21-year-old man after a supporter appeared to make a monkey gesture at West Bromwich Albion player Romelu Lukaku in Saturday's Premier League match.

A photograph appears to show a football fan making the gesture as Belgium international Lukaku celebrated scoring his side's third goal in the 4-2 win at the Stadium of Light.

Police today confirmed they are looking into the alleged abuse following a complaint within hours after the game had finished.



Investigation: Police in the north-east have launched an inquiry into incident, following a complaint from another supporter

A spokesman for Northumbria Police said: 'Police are investigating report of racial abuse at the Sunderland versus West Bromwich match on Saturday, November 24.

'Police have arrested a 21-year-old man on suspicion of racially or religiously aggravated intentional harassment.

'He is currently in custody.'



The alleged vile gesture comes less than a month after Chelsea fan Gavin Kirkham was banned from Stamford Bridge for appearing to make a monkey gesture at Danny Welbeck, the Manchester United player, in a Capital One Cup tie.

Police are continuing to investigate that incident.

Ged Grebby, of Show Racism the Red Card, hit out at the fan's actions in the photograph.

'It's very similar to the picture taken at the Chelsea game,' said Mr Grebby.

'This kind of gesture at football matches is a thing we never thought we'd see again.

Gesture: A fan can be seen making what appears to be a monkey gesture at West Brom's Romelu Lukaku as he celebrates scoring his side's third goal on Saturday

STAN COLLYMORE 'RACIALLY ABUSED' ON TWITTER

A man has been arrested after former Aston Villa striker Stan Collymore was allegedly racially abused on Twitter. The 21-year-old man was in police custody on Tuesday night helping police with their investigation.

Northumbria Police said on Tuesday: 'At 9.55am this morning police received a report of racist tweets and are carrying out inquiries to trace the person responsible.'

They later added: 'A 21-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of publishing written material to stir up racial hatred and is currently in police custody helping police with their inquiries.'

The former footballer took to his Twitter account to show his gratitude to the police for their 'prompt response' to the problem.

He said: 'Many thanks to Greater Manchester & Northumbria Police forces for their prompt response to racism on twitter.'

'If anyone is guilty of this they could be looking a a three-year ban.

'When people do these kind of things we have to have action against them, and if they are found guilty then we will be asking the club to ban them.'

A spokesman for Sunderland AFC said: ‘SAFC operates a policy of zero tolerance towards racism and anti-social behaviour of any kind and naturally we will co-operate with the police in fully investigating any such incidents.’

Sunderland had a number black players in their team on Saturday, with Danny Rose and Stephane Sessegnon in Martin O’Neill’s starting line-up and striker Louis Saha coming off the substitutes’ bench in the second-half.



The photograph emerged as West Bromich Albion's head coach Steve Clarke condemned racist chanting in the game.

It follows accusations that West Ham fans chanted anti-Semitic songs during their 3-1 defeat at Tottenham on Sunday.

Mr Clarke said: 'There is no place for it (racist chanting) in the game.

'It is sad it is coming out. I went to White Hart Lane with West Ham on a couple of occasions and there was never anything like that.

'That's not so long ago, only two or three years ago, so it's strange now how it has started coming out again.

'It's something we have to jump on and we have to stop. The authorities are now looking into the incident at Sunderland and Romelu has our full support.

'I am sure the authorities will conduct a thorough inquiry and take the appropriate action.'

Shamed: This Chelsea fan caught on camera making a monkey gesture (bottom left) was later identified as Gavin Kirkham

Kirkham, 28, tried to claim he wasn't racist after sparking national outrage with his gesture - saying he was just being 'one of the boys'.

He made the apparent monkey gesture towards Welbeck from the Matthew Harding Stand during Chelsea's 5-4 cup win.

Kirkham, from Letchworth Garden City in Hertfordshire, reportedly admitted to friends: 'I'm totally ashamed of myself and I wish it hadn't happened.

'I'm not a racist. I'm just one of the boys.

'I had a couple of pints and got a bit lairy but I'm not a bad lad. I just got wrapped up in the match.'