England fans travelling to Russia for World Cup 2018 warned over attacks from world’s most racist club Zenit St Petersburg whose supporters wear KKK hoods
Assistant Chief Constable Mark Roberts has urged fans to consider that their chants may offend other nationalities at the next World Cup
ENGLAND World Cup fans face coming under attack by supporters from the world’s most racist club who wear chilling KKK hoods to games.
A major Zenit St Petersburg supporters’ group caused outrage when it released a manifesto calling on the club’s owners not to sign any black or gay players.
They unfurl banners proclaiming “there is no black in Zenit’s colours” during games and a 50ft mural baring the hateful slogan was painted in the centre of Russia’s second biggest city.
Landscrona – Zenit’s largest organised fan group with thousands of members - said they were proud of their “patriotic” views and saw themselves as guardians of Zenit’s unique “regional identity” as a whites-only club.
Zenit thugs have also been pictured wearing white hoods made infamous by US white supremacist group the Ku Klux Klan to games and indulging in Nazi salutes.
Tens of thousands of England fans will base themselves in St Petersburg close to Gareth Southgate’s World Cup HQ less than 20 miles away.
And the families of some black England stars could boycott 2018 matches and stay at home over fears they could be targets for the racist thugs.
The families of two players, Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, were reported to have stayed away from Euro 2012 in Ukraine for fear of racist attacks.
And Moscow’s chief human rights ombudswoman said that nearly 100 cases of racism were recorded between 2014 and 2016 at stadiums across the city.
UEFA are investigating monkey chants directed at Liverpool academy player Bobby Adekanye by Spartak Moscow this season.
The ombudswoman, Tatyana Potyayeva, said that 21 of the recorded 99 acts of racism, discrimination and xenophobia constituted a ‘real attack’.
And the government’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office advises: “People of Asian or Afro-Caribbean descent may attract some unwanted attention in public places and should take care, particularly when travelling late at night.”
And gangs who form the Zenit St Petersburg Ultras are feared across Europe and Russia for their meticulously-organised violence.
Russian fans went on the rampage in Marseille both inside and outside of the stadium in Euro 2016 – attacking England fans and leaving several seriously injured.
Following the violence, the leader of Zenit St Petersburg’s Landscrona mob issued a chilling warning.
The 32-year-old who did not want to be named, told the : "You think it was bad in France - wait until Russia. This is our home fixture."
He then added: "If the English want a second beating after Marseille all they have to do it ask."
Another leader of a separate group warned gay and black England fans to "be careful when they visit" as Russian people are "uneducated about these sort of things".
Assistant Chief Constable Mark Roberts, has said that there are concerns some England fans will continue to indulge in offensive nationalistic chanting which will be viewed by Russians as laying down "a challenge".
The head of the Football Policing Unit, said: “It’s indicative of an imperialistic mindset, saying, ‘We are here, on your ground’ and that can provoke a hostile reaction.”
He urged fans to consider that their chants may offend other nationalities.
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