LONDON (Middle East Eye) – Police are investigating a banner displayed by Crystal Palace football fans at Selhurst Park in south London on Saturday that spoke out against Newcastle United’s takeover by a Saudi Arabia-led consortium.
Newcastle were sold to a group consisting of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), PCP Capital Partners and RB Sports & Media earlier this month after being given the go-ahead by the Premier League.
The banner, unveiled during the two Premier League sides’ 1-1 draw, depicted an image of PIF about to behead a magpie, as fans in the background chanted: “We’ve got our club back.”
Newcastle are commonly referred to as “the magpies” because their black-and-white football strip is similar to the bird’s coloring.
The image also showed Premier League chief executive Richard Masters giving a thumbs-up to a bag of money, and listed several offences that rights groups say the kingdom is responsible for, with a tick next to each one: terrorism, beheadings, civil rights abuses, murder, persecution and censorship.
“On Saturday 23 October police received a report of an offensive banner displayed by Crystal Palace fans,” Croydon Metropolitan Police said on Twitter.
Palace fan group Holmesdale Fanatics said they were responsible for the banner and continued their attack on the Newcastle takeover in a statement on Twitter.
“The Saudi led takeover of Newcastle has rightly received widespread condemnation and anger,” it said.
“To give the ‘thumbs up’ to this deal at a time when the Premier League is promoting the women’s game and inclusive initiatives such as rainbow armbands, shows the total hypocrisy at play and demonstrates the League’s soulless agenda where profits trump all.”
The Newcastle takeover was 80 percent financed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, chaired by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Saudi Arabia has been accused of committing war crimes during the ongoing war in Yemen, detaining and torturing women’s rights activists, and of carrying out hundreds of executions since King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud took the throne in 2015.