Ukrainian officials have angrily denied that fans of African and Asian origin will be the targets of violence by racist hooligans at the European Championship finals.
In fact, they are so confident of a peaceful tournament that only a few dozen police officers will be present at each game — and well out of view of spectators.
A BBC documentary this week showed footage of Ukrainian hooligans violently attacking Asian fans supporting the same team at a domestic league match, as well as examples of blatant anti-Semitism.
Sol Campbell, the former England defender, has warned England fans to stay home or risk returning “in a coffin” and the families of two black England players, Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, say they may not travel to the tournament.
Markiyan Lubkivskyi, Uefa’s tournament director in Kiev, said such claims were made by people who know nothing about the country. “It is very important to bring to Ukraine a lot of people and a lot of supporters to discover Ukraine because Ukraine is still coloured with horror stories, with rumours, with things which have nothing to do with reality,” he said.
Advertisement
“We will have a different approach in terms of safety and security at Ukrainian stadiums. We will not have police in Ukrainian stadiums. We will have stewards, who will provide services, high-level services. We don’t expect any battles, any war — so that’s why we are preparing for the big football festival.”
Oleh Voloshyn, a spokesman for Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry, expressed disbelief at comments by Mario Balotelli, the Italy and Manchester City striker, who said this week that he would “kill anyone who throws a banana” at him.
“I will persuade him that the only place he can find bananas is in Ukrainian restaurants,” Voloshyn said. “He should search for traditional Ukrainian dumplings, for Ukrainian lard and Ukrainian borscht. I’m sure nothing is going to happen. We all should calm down and return to reality.”