Victim of racist Chelsea fans wants them ‘found, punished and locked up’

The black passenger prevented from getting on the Paris metro by Chelsea fans singing a racist chant has made a police complaint.

The passenger, named by Le Parisien only as Souleymane S, told the paper he had not watched the footage published by the Guardian on Tuesday night because he lost his phone in the altercation with the Chelsea supporters. But, shown the video by Le Parisien, the 33-year-old married father of three said he would contact French anti-racism associations and go to the police.

He had not told his family about the incident, he said. “What would I have said to my children? That daddy was pushed off the metro because he was black? That’s pointless.”

A Frenchman of Mauritanian origin, Souleymane S was born in Paris and grew up in the Val-d’Oise area outside the city. He works in a company near Richelieu-Drouot metro station where the incident happened on Tuesday night. He told Le Parisien: “I wanted to get on to the carriage, but a group of English supporters blocked me and pushed me back. I tried to force a gap and get on. In the scrum, I lost my phone.

“They were saying things to me in English but I didn’t really understand what they were saying. I don’t speak a word of English.”

He added: “I understood they were Chelsea fans and made the link with the PSG match that night. I also understood very well that they were targeting me because of the colour of my skin.“You know, I live with racism; I wasn’t really surprised at what happened to me, even if it was the first time in the metro.”

He said he “faced them down for a long time”, adding: “Afterwards someone came and said to me that I’d been brave to resist people like that. In my view, the incident lasted around six or seven minutes. After a while transport staff intervened, but only to ensure there wasn’t a fight. Their objective was to get the transport moving again.

“No passenger came to my defence, but in any case what could one have done? Then the train moved on and I waited for the next one.”

Shown the video by Le Parisien, he said: “I didn’t know I was filmed. The fact that I’m talking about it now gives me courage to go to the police and file a complaint ... These people, these English fans should be found, punished and locked up. What happened should not go unpunished.”