Arsenal have condemned “any form of anti-Semitism” aimed at Tottenham fans after footage of people chanting abuse ahead of last Saturday’s North London derby at White Hart Lane surfaced.
The footage, filmed by another passenger and obtained by The Daily Mail, shows a group chanting anti-Semitic abuses.
Spurs are a club with strong Jewish roots, and Arsenal fans are normally escorted to White Hart Lane by police due to the rivalry between the clubs.
Arsenal are aware of the incident and released a statement on Wednesday condemning the abuse that says:
“We absolutely condemn any form of anti-Semitism at the Club and we will work with the Metropolitan Police and British Transport Police to identify any culprits.
“We work hard as a club to encourage diversity and inclusion through the Arsenal for Everyone programme and will continue to drive forward this campaign to our supporters.”
The Tottenham fan who filmed the incident and did not want to be named, said in The Daily Mail: “There was a certain group of people who were chanting and shouting.
“I got off at Seven Sisters and spoke to the police about it but they didn’t really do anything about it.
“The video I shot isn’t the half of it – they were singing about the Holocaust and Auschwitz – I’ve heard that kind of thing before but it doesn’t normally happen with Arsenal.
“There weren’t really any other Spurs fans on the train, but there were normal commuters. No one seemed shocked, some people were actually laughing.”
There were a number of violent clashes after the match, which finished 2-2 to leave second-place Spurs three points above their neighbours, and at least one Tottenham fan was pictured with a bloodied head.
Simon Johnson, chief executive of the Jewish Leadership Council and a former director of corporate affairs at the Football Association, told The Jewish Chronicle: “This disgraceful example of anti-Semitic chanting has no place in modern society.
“As it happened away from the ground, we call on British Transport Police to investigate the allegations and for both clubs to provide full cooperation in identifying the perpetrators. There can be no tolerance of those who resort to racist chants in any circumstances.”
