LVIV
(EJP)--- The mayor of Lviv, one of four Ukrainian host cities
of the current Euro 2012 football tournament, also based
in Poland, has refuted claims of widespread racism across
the country’s football stadiums, attributing such reports
to media bias.
In a statement on Sunday, Andriy Sadovyi insisted that “Lviv
is an absolutely tolerant city...(with) people of different
nationalities who respect each other”.
His comments came despite reports of a WWII Jewish burial site
being desecrated in the western Ukraine city of Rivne, about
350 kilometres (215 miles) west of the capital Kiev on Wednesday
evening.
Police spokesman Petro Yezhor confirmed several unknown attackers
broke a memorial plaque and street lamps at a site commemorating
the murder of 17,500 Jews during the Holocaust. The local Jewish
community described the act of vandalism as “horrific”.
Human rights organisation Simon Wiesenthal Center has also
called on football fans to boycott two of Lviv’s restaurants
accused of perpetuating anti-Semitic sentiment, something Sadovyi
similarly denies.
One of the restaurants in question encourages patrons to don
black hats with artificial sidelocks reminiscent of religious
Jewish payot. Prices are not included on the menu, as customers
are encouraged to negotiate, which, the Simon Wiesenthal Center
argues perpetuates “a notorious anti-Semitic stereotype
still prevalent in Eastern Europe.
Nationalist Ukrainian groups have long been associated with
anti-Jewish policy and are known to enjoy a stronghold of support
in the Lviv region, on account of the resistance they mounted
against Soviet forces in World War II, during which period
1.4 million members of Soviet Ukraine’s 2.4 million-strong
Jewish community were executed, starved to death or died of
disease.
Sadoyvi insisted racial tensions such as he remarked were evidenced
in last year’s London riots, which saw the city engulfed
in violent protests, were unimaginable in Lviv and responsibility
for inaccurate reports of racism was largely attributable to
British press outlets.
“
They had riots in the city and you probably heard about that.
I can’t even imagine such a thing in Lviv”, the
mayor insisted. “Maybe some people don’t like it,
but Lviv is a city open to the world”.
Controversy over Euro 2012 racism has been further invigorated
after it was reported on Friday that Dutch black players had
been subjected to monkey chants during an open practice session
in Krakow, Poland, where the England team is based. Italian
international player Mario Balotelli was also allegedly racially
harassed during his team’s opening group match against
Spain on Sunday. The families of two of England’s first-team
black players, Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, had
already announced they won’t travel to matches because
of fears of racist abuse.
ejpress.org
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