Arsenal Football Club has condemned two ”disturbing” antisemitic incidents involving fans as those who hurled abuse at a female fan were banned from a pub.
The club's statement came after a 26-year-old woman reported being asked to leave The Cally pub in Caledonian Road, Islington, after she confronted fans for using an antisemitic slur in a chant during the North London derby on Sunday.
Comedian and Arsenal supporter Katie Price said she was called a “dirty f****** y**" by another fan after she had asked others drinking there not to use the slur.
The club stated that the other incident happened at the North London derby on Sunday and involved one of their fans overhearing “grossly offensive antisemitic statements” made toward another Arsenal fan.
A spokesperson for the club said: “Arsenal must be a safe and welcoming environment for everyone, and we want to be clear that any kind of discriminatory abuse is not welcome at our club.
“We recognise the impact this behaviour has on our many Jewish supporters and others and condemn the use of language of this nature, which has no place in our game or society.”
They added that any fans identified for having taken part in the abuse would be served a lengthy club ban and that their details would be passed on to the police.
The pub declined to comment to the Gazette but its manager Edmund Toska told The Times he did not know she had been abused and the men who did so are now banned.
He added that the pub was happy to help the police and had CCTV.
The Community Safety Trust, a charity that protects British Jews from antisemitism and related threats, said: "This was an appalling example of unashamed racist abuse and threats directed at an Arsenal fan simply because she was Jewish and she had objected to the use of antisemitic language.
"The fact it came from her fellow Arsenal fans, and nobody else in the pub supported her, made it even worse. We have been supporting Katie, who has shown great courage in publicising her experience.
"We are pleased that the pub has now apologised and say they have banned the offenders. We hope they will be identified, arrested and banned from football."
The Metropolitan Police is investigating the matter.
In their statement, Arsenal urged supporters to report any form of discriminatory behaviour to the police.
Witnesses can also talk to matchday stewards when in the Emirates Stadium or report incidents by texting “FOUL” to 67777 with a description of the incident and the location within the stadium.
Cllr John Woolf, Islington Council’s executive member for community safety, said: “We stand with our communities against hate crime, and will not tolerate hate crime in Islington.
“We are investigating this very disturbing incident, are in close contact with the pub, and working closely with the police.”
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