A soccer player from the second division in Algeria found out the hard way that he can’t show support to Paris victims after scoring a goal. He revealed a t-shirt with the words ICI C PARIS which means Here This Is Paris, he was fined and suspended indefinitely. You have to wonder why it is such a big deal but looking at the video, we can see that his own teammate already had a problem with it.
The player himself, maybe under pressure, dismissed that he was showing support to Paris victims and said he was doing it because he was a fan of soccer star Zlatan Ibrahimovic who plays for PSG, a team which created the T-shirt in honor of the victims.
The player defended himself by mentioning only his support for … PSG. “Ici, c’est Paris” is indeed the rallying cry for supporters of the capital club. “I did not realize what was written on my shirt,” assured Lotfi Dif according to the Algerian daily “Reporters.” “I’m a fan of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Paris Saint-Germain. Otherwise, it has nothing to do with politics. I only did what Ibrahimovic does. I am in solidarity with neither France nor anything else. I have nothing in common with them and what happened out there doesn’t concern me even remotely. It’s just because I like Zlatan.”
The President of the club in a bizarre move didn’t see the gesture as appropriate neither.
“Farid Nezzar, president of CA Batna, denounced the “inappropriate behavior.” “Even if he says he is a supporter of Paris Saint-Germain, he is primarily a player of CA Batna,” he said in comments reported by “Reporters”. The president, however, asked fans to “give a little leniency with him. We should not put too much pressure on him because he is a young player and I do not think he will commit another error such as this.”
I guess the policy of this soccer club is to not be involved socially, I will take that excuse even if it is terrible than think it has anything to do with Algeria being a muslim country and solidifying the ignorant thoughts that religion and terrorism are associated.
https://youtu.be/Ly-hN3lcwxA