Football anti-racism body Kick It Out has reported to the police the antisemitic tweets that followed a Rosh Hashanah greeting from Liverpool FC.
Liverpool had posted the new year greeting on its Twitter feed, which is followed by 3.24 million people.
It read: “Liverpool FC would like to wish all our Jewish supporters around the world a happy new year. #RoshHashanah.”
The post prompted a flood of offensive replies, many referencing Hitler and calling for Jews to be gassed.
A few hours later the tweet was removed by the club, along with the replies, and replaced with a post stating that the club “believes in the practice of religious freedom — we seek a world in which we can send good wishes to supporters without hateful responses.
In a statement on Kick It Out’s website today, Keeley Baptista, the organisation’s professional game manager, said: ”We immediately informed the police for them to investigate”.
Kick It Out added that Liverpool had passed information to the police and that anyone found guilty of posting antisemitic comments would risk a lifetime ban from the club’s Anfield stadium.
The statement also said that the club had not wanted to remove the original greeting, but was forced to because "Twitter does not offer the functionality to remove comments without deleting the original tweet".
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