Hotel employee arrested for racially abusing Moroccan players

A 27-year-old worker at a Madrid hotel hosting the Morocco team has been arrested after posting derogatory comments about Islam and racial slurs against the players on social media, Spanish police and hotel management announced today (28/3).

Police told Reuters that the employee, a waiter at the five-star Eurostars hotel tower in the Spanish capital, asked the players to take pictures with him. He then uploaded the images to Instagram with xenophobic slurs, with the post quickly receiving over 70,000 views. The man is due to appear before a judge soon, police said.

“We wish to offer our sincerest apologies in relation to the unfortunate, reprehensible and unacceptable comments of a racist and xenophobic natureHotusa, the group that owns the hotel, said in a statement. “The waiter was an outside worker who was hired on a casual basis and was not part of the hotel’s regular staff“, he added.

Asked about the incident, Morocco coach Walid Regraghi referred to the ongoing holy period of Ramadan, known in the Islamic world as the month of forgiveness and tolerance.

“We do not accept racism, but we want to show that Islam is a religion of tolerance“, Regraghi told reporters. “We forgive this person according to the requirements of the Islamic religion and the customs of the Moroccan people».

He added that the worker “he made a mistake” and invited him to visit Morocco for “to see the atmosphere among Muslims during Ramadan».

Morocco beat Brazil 2-1 in a match that kicked off at midnight on Saturday to record the first ever victory for an Arab country over the five-time world champions who are at the top of the FIFA world rankings.

They also became the first Arab team to reach the quarter-finals of the World Cup last year and the first African team to reach the semi-finals, beating Belgium, Spain and Portugal.

Source: RES-MPE