Independent is reporting that English police are appealing for information in regards to a video recorded by semi-professional soccer player Pavel Vieira who had some racially-charged comments hurled in his direction by a white passenger on a bus in Liverpool on Friday night. After he turned the camera on the passenger, Vieira asked, “Is there anything wrong with the black people?” Without missing a beat, the man responded, “Yeah, you shouldn’t even be here.”
“I shouldn’t be here in England then?” Vieira asked, to which the guy answered, plainly, “Yeah.” As their conversation continued to get more and more heated, other passengers stepped in to come to Vieira’s defense. Police were eventually notified of the incident, and an investigation is underway.
Vieira spoke with the Liverpool Echo and thanked the passengers who had his back. “I would like to meet them and hug them,” he said. “After I got off the bus, more people came up to me and spoke with me and supported me.”
"We will not tolerate hate crimes being committed against members of our community, and I would like to take this opportunity to reassure people that we have specially trained officers who investigate cases with a view to robust action being taken against offenders," Mark Drew, detective inspector of Merseyside Police, said. "Everyone has the right to live peacefully within their community and to go about their daily lives without harassment from others just because they are perceived to be different. We will take the strongest possible action against the offender."
