Boy, 15, arrested after Luton Town footballer racially abused on Instagram

Shameful: Luton town has condemned the racist abuse suffered by one of its young players
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A 15-year-old boy has been arrested after a footballer was racially abused on social media.

It is understood the comments directed towards the Luton Town player were made on a live Instagram feed on Wednesday evening.

A youth from the Hartlepool area was arrested on Friday on suspicion of a racially aggravated public order offence.

The boy has been released under investigation while inquiries continue.

The club said in a statement last week: "All at Luton Town are appalled that discriminatory comments can be directed towards anyone in this day and age, but we are especially upset for one of our young players, Peter Kioso, who has been subject to shameful abuse this week – a week when he has made his club and league debut and rightly celebrated his role in helping us survive in the Championship.

"As a club and a town which celebrates equality, diversity and inclusion, we firmly stand behind Peter and all of our minority players and staff regardless of their skin tone, ethnicity or religion.

"We have been helping the police with inquiries to bring the perpetrator of this mindless act to account.

"Racism is unacceptable in person or via any media channel and we believe it is high time that there is a review of how social media channels are categorised to make them more accountable for content distributed over their channels."

Anyone with information regarding the comments is asked to contact Sergeant Adrian Dack, from the Football Intelligence Unit at Cleveland Police, on 101.

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