Spurs Anti-Semitic Tweets Lead to Arrests

Two people have been arrested on suspicion of inciting racial hatred on Twitter following a match between Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham.

The tweets, which were made after the Premiership game in October, contained references to Adolf Hitler and gas chambers, according to Scotland Yard.

Police said they had arrested two men aged 22 and 24 at their homes in Wiltshire and Croydon respectively. Both were bailed to a date in late January pending further inquiries.

Previously, as part of the same investigation, a 48-year-old man was arrested at his home address in Canning Town, east London, on suspicion of inciting racial hatred. He has also been given bail until January.

In a separate investigation, a 55-year-old man from Hemel Hempstead was arrested and cautioned for malicious communications after sending anti-Semitic tweets before the Spurs-West Ham match.

Police and the FA have previously warned supporters not to use the word "yid" (slang for "Jew") and could face arrest if they do. Tottenham Hotspur's large Jewish fanbase uses the term among themselves. Club management has argued that there is no malice in it and therefore should not be considered hate speech.

A club spokesman said: "We are acutely aware of the sensitivity of this issue. Our fans historically adopted the chant as a defence mechanism in order to 'own' the term and thereby deflect anti-Semitic abuse. They do not use the term with any deliberate intent to cause offence."

However, the Board of Deputies of British Jews said that "yid" was always an offensive and should not be used by the supporters.