Basketball player laments racist abuse at Belgrade game

PODGORICA, Montenegro: French basketball player Edwin Jackson has complained of his team suffering racist abuse while playing for Buducnost Podgorica against Red Star Belgrade in Serbia.

The 29-year-old, who has been with the Montenegrin team since June 2018, said opposing fans were “spitting in our faces” and that being “call(ed) a monkey during the game will always be unacceptable”.

“Trully [sic] sad for my sport today,” he wrote on Instagram, adding that fans also threw firecrackers and chairs onto the court during the Adriatic League game. The last game of the Adriatic League (ABA) Finals, which saw Red Star take the title after their victory on Monday, was forced to start late because of the incidents.

During the warm-up, Belgrade fans swarmed the court and forced the visiting team to retreat to their locker room. In a statement, Buducnost denounced “an attack against our players and management who have experienced horror, lynching and physical violence”.