Chelsea football fans who pushed a black man off a train in Paris and sang about “being racist” could be jailed for three years.
The football world united to condemn the supporters and to call for them to be banned from matches.
French prosecutors have opened a criminal probe into Tuesday’s disturbing scenes which were captured on film.
Appalled bosses at Chelsea FC have joined forces with police in Paris and London trying to identify the culprits.
The video footage shows Chelsea fans stopping the man boarding the busy underground train, shoving him violently, then apparently singing: “We’re racist, we’re racist, and that’s the way we like it.”
A schoolgirl who was on the train said that up to 60 Chelsea fans were involved, some allegedly making throat-slitting gestures at her.
The 15-year-old said: “They sang songs, drank beer, and made signs of death at us. There were lots of them and they took up two carriages.
“They started jumping in all directions and the train was shaking, it looked like it was going to tip over.”
But the girl – only identified as Meghane – said she believed the man was pushed off the train as he is a Parisian, rather than for his skin colour.
It is not known which, if any, of the people shown in the footage was involved in any wrongdoing.
A spokesman for the Paris prosecutor’s office said the supporters are being investigated for “voluntary racial violence on public transport”.
Under French law, the offence is punishable by up to three years in jail and a £33,000 fine.
Chelsea FC vowed to support criminal prosecutions.
The West London club said in a statement: “Such behaviour is abhorrent and has no place in football or society.
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