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 stopped at the hotel around midnight on Sunday and faced possible hate crime charges.
She added that the police were dispatched after a complaint from hotel managers about racist comments posted online.
Spanish media published pictures claiming that the man had posted them 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 while eating the suhoor meal, accompanied by racist comments.
The media reported that the worker later deleted the posts from his Instagram account and apologized before being arrested.
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 last Saturday in Tangiers, Morocco will face Peru in another friendly match today (Tuesday) at the "Wanda Metropolitano" stadium of the Spanish capital club, Atletico Madrid.
The hotel manager apologized to the Moroccan national team delegation, and said in a statement: “We want to apologize to everyone who was offended by what happened. In my personal capacity, I am a Muslim and an Arab, and I celebrate Ramadan like many of my colleagues in this hotel, and for this reason we feel hurt by what happened, like any Muslim in the world.
He added, "We want to condemn any racist act and repeat our apology, and confirm that everyone involved in what happened does not belong to the hotel but rather works temporarily for us during peak times, and they were expelled, and we put what they did at the disposal of the police to investigate this crime."
Okaz (Madrid) @okaz_sports