English fans have, once again, shocked the world with their abhorrent behaviour at the Euro 2016 football championship.
In shocking new footage, which has ben uploaded to Facebook, they can be shown throwing bottles and coins at a group of young refugees.
One fan even leaves the group to mock-punch a child in the face.
Watch the footage for yourself below:
The video has been viewed over 2.5 million times, generating thousand of comments from horrified social media users - many of whom have called for the English team to be disqualified and fans sent home in shame.
One wrote: “Suddenly I don't feel as bad about the Russians jumping the English last week.”
Another added emotionally: “I am so ashamed to be English right now, I don't care for anyone's political views... children are children!
“This kind of behaviour breeds hatred, innocent people are dying all over the world because of stupid ignorant people like these inhuman dogs.... this is the reason why we have home grown extremists!
“Racism has no place in this country!!!”
And one more commented: “These are probably the same disgusting creatures who want out of the EU, yet don't realise they got free medical care in France because we are in the EU when they got beaten up by the Russians.
“Probably the same minority who oppose migrants entering the UK, yet it's ok for them to go to another country and cause damage and chaos.
“Tw**s.”
It’s absolutely disgraceful, isn’t it?
The horrifying footage was shared shortly after the news that English and Russian fans had been violently brawling in the streets of Lille, France.
A ban on alcohol sales from shops and supermarkets in Lille has since been instated, which aims to reduce the potential for glass bottles to be used as missiles. About 350 bars in the city are required to close at midnight, while many shops and cafes have chosen to close early.
The England manager, Roy Hodgson, and the team’s captain, Wayne Rooney, have both appealed to fans to remain calm.
And the FA’s chief executive, Martin Glenn, has written to fans to tell them not to react to provocation.
“We recognise that some of you were subjected to acts of violence from rival supporters in the stadium last weekend. It is something we take very seriously and while tens of thousands of you acted impeccably, there was a minority that did not,” he wrote.
“Like the England team, you represent the badge and I urge you to act in a positive and respectful way.”
Their behaviour contrasts starkly to that of the Welsh and Irish, who have been praised for their sunny-natures, general politeness, and human decency during the football championship.
Then again, England fans have carried a reputation as violent football hooligans since the 1980s.
And, in attacking one another over the beautiful game, they are like playground bullies, determined to prove their own toughness and worth, and knowing of only one way to do it.
However it seems as if, judging by this new footage, their cowardice is driven by something far worse than ‘the beautiful game’ - it’s all down to racism, pure and simple.
Some fans were heard yelling “ISIS, where are you?” as they clashed with North African immigrants based in France while in Marseille, according to reports.
And now others have been caught attacking refugees in the streets.
These are not just ‘refugees’ or ‘boat people’, as so many people have charmingly described them.
These are real people - and, more than that, these are vulnerable children who have fled a country ravaged by a truly terrifying war.
An estimated 400,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict began.
It’s worth pointing out that these aren’t just people caught in the crossfire, either; one baby girl was shockingly beheaded by ISIS troops, many families have been set on fire by vigilantes, children have been subjected to torture, and schoolgirls have been raped and left for dead by militants.
There are air raids, shellings, bombings, tanks, snipers, and killings everywhere.
Is it any wonder that millions of people are trying to escape all of that horror, before it’s too late?
Yet, even as the Syrians attempt to flee with their children and their lives, the rest of Europe has turned their backs on them, accusing them of being nothing more than ‘benefits scroungers’.
Do you really think a mother would strap her baby into a life-jacket, clamber aboard a rickety boat, and set out across a violent and choppy sea all for the sake of £67.46 a week?
Do you really think a teenager would offer up her body to a truck driver, as well as her life savings, for the sake of a council house in an unwelcoming and strange country?
And do you really think a father would hide his children in the back of an overcrowded lorry, knowing that the journey would take not just hours but days, knowing that they would have to go hours without food and water, knowing that they would often be sitting in their own filth, and knowing that they might not survive the trip, all for the possibility of free healthcare?
Of course not.
These children have escaped from a country where they spent their days terrified for their lives.
Now, as demonstrated so abhorrently by English football fans, they are being treated as worse than second-class citizens.
Don’t they deserve our kindness and respect after what they have been through?
Or, at the very least, don’t they deserve to be treated as what they are; actual human beings?
Shame on these English fans; they have well and truly let the side down.
READ MORE:
‘F..k off – we’re full’: Why we need to open our hearts to the people of Syria