The black commuter at the centre of the Paris Metro race row told Stratford Magistrates’ court that he was “violently” pushed off the train as a Chelsea fan pointed to his skin colour.
Advertisement
Footage of the altercation on the Paris Metro after the London club played Paris St Germain in February sparked outrage and British police issued pictures of those suspected of being involved.
Video showed Sylla being pushed off the train by Chelsea supporters, who were singing “we’re racist, we’re racist and that’s the way we like it”.
He told Stratford Magistrates’ Court the train was “packed” and he only pushed Mr Sylla off because there was no room.
Asked by his lawyer, Nick Scott, if he had an issue with the “colour of his [Sylla’s] skin”, Barklie replied: “None whatsoever”.
Mr Barklie served as an officer with the Royal Ulster Constabulary and as a director with the World Human Rights Forum.
Richard Barklie, 50, Jordan Munday, 20, Josh Parsons, 20, and William Simpson, 26, all deny wrongdoing and are fighting police attempts to issue them with football banning orders.
“From what I’ve seen and what I’ve viewed he was aggressively forcing himself into a space where there was none”.
The court heard how on the footage his mouth can be seen moving with the racist chant. “I have to breathe don’t I, sir?”
As for an earlier incident, when video shows Munday confronting a man who held a lit flare as Chelsea fans were walking along, he said: “The man was staring at me, he looked hostile, he was waving a flare in my face, I pushed him”.
Footage went viral and the victim, Souleymane S., said it was “a shock that I can’t get over”, he doesn’t take the Metro any more, he’s being treated for depression and that French Chelsea fans in his neighborhood jeer at him.
A fifth man, 32-year-old Dean Callis from north London, has already received a five-year banning order from football matches for his role in Paris and other incidents involving violence. Pc Todd said some football fans can display a “pack mentality” when they are with 100 fellow supporters and do things they normally wouldn’t.
Defence lawyers for all four men said they were not chanting or being racist, and the Parisian was pushed off the train simply because it was full.
The banning orders the men are opposing are aimed at stopping potential troublemakers from travelling to football matches at home and overseas, for a period between three and five years.
He said: “I’m going to suggest we can see you joining in. I don’t condone any racist singing”.
The court heard statements in support of Parsons, which said he was not a racist and did not support racists.
Barklie said the Paris incident has “had a profound effect on my life”.
He said: “I think he had tried to get on first and then he tried to get on again, but by that stage he was shouting”.
Advertisement
District judge Gareth Branson is expected to make his decision next Wednesday.
