Police detain teen over ‘racist’ Barcelona metro attack

Spanish police on Monday arrested a teenager suspected of beating up a Mongolian man inside a Barcelona metro train in an alleged racist attack after a video of the incident posted online went viral.

The video shows a blonde youth, dressed in a black T-shirt and jeans and whose face is pixellated, repeatedly punching the seated man before other passengers intervened late on Saturday.

It was reportedly first posted on Sunday to a Twitter account that contained Nazi symbols and a racist slogan.

The owner of the account, who appeared in his profile picture with a shaved head and his mouth covered by a bandana, tweeted that he had filmed his friend carrying out the attack on his mobile phone.

The victim, a 25-year-old Mongolian man who lives in Spain, filed a complaint with police on Sunday.

Police said in a statement they had detained a young man who is suspected of carrying out the beating and charged two others, including another minor, who acted as accomplices.

Police did not give the nationality of the suspect who was arrested, but Spanish media reported that he was Russian.

The video, which was repeatedly played on Spanish television stations and had over half a million views on YouTube, sparked angry reactions from anti-racism campaigners and government officials.

“We want to make it clear that attitudes like this are not acceptable in our city,” Barcelona city hall said in a statement.

- AFP