A 12-year-old boy has been arrested over racist messages sent to footballer Wilfried Zaha.
Zaha, who plays for Crystal Palace and the Ivory Coast, shared screenshots of the Instagram messages on Sunday morning – hours before Palace's game against Aston Villa at Villa Park.
The messages used highly offensive racist terms and included pictures of the Ku Klux Klan.
He shared them on his Twitter page, with the caption: "Woke up to this today."
West Midlands Police this afternoon confirmed a 12-year-old boy from Solihull has been arrested in connection with the incident.
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#ARRESTED| We were alerted to a series of racist messages sent to a footballer today and after looking into them and conducting checks, we have arrested a boy.
The 12-year-old from #Solihull has been taken to custody.
Thanks to everyone who raised it. Racism won't be tolerated. pic.twitter.com/oFxBUvdtV1
— West Midlands Police – #StayAlert (@WMPolice) July 12, 2020
"Thanks to everyone who raised it. Racism won't be tolerated," a spokesman said on Twitter.
Crystal Palace's manager Roy Hodgson said he fully supports the 27-year-old's decision to go public about the abuse and added that both clubs are looking to identify the person responsible.
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He said: "It is very saddening on the day of a game that a player wakes up to this cowardly and despicable abuse.
"I think it is right that Wilf made people aware of it; I don't think it is something he should keep quiet about. There is literally no excuse; there is no excuse at all."
A Premier League spokesman addeRead More – Source
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