Spanish police have arrested a Madrid hotel worker for posting racist comments on social media against the Moroccan national football team staying at the hotel.
A spokeswoman for Madrid’s municipal police said the 27-year-old Spaniard was arrested at the hotel around midnight on Sunday and faced possible hate crime charges.
She added, without giving further details, that the police had been dispatched after a complaint from hotel managers about racist comments posted online.
And Spanish media published pictures that they claimed the man had posted on his Instagram account, showing a number of members of the Moroccan national team, the fourth Qatar World Cup 2022, in the hotel dining room, accompanied by racist comments.
The media reported that the worker later deleted the posts from his “Instagram” account and apologized before his arrest.
The reports about the publications sparked outrage in Morocco, which earlier this month joined Spain and Portugal in a joint bid to host the 2030 World Cup.
After its historic 2-1 friendly victory over Brazil on Saturday in Tangiers, Morocco will face Peru in another friendly match on Tuesday at the “Wanda Metropolitano” stadium of the Spanish capital, Atletico Madrid.
