Mo Farah lodges complaint against German police and Munich Airport over 'racial harassment'

Ella Wills7 March 2018

Mo Farah has lodged a formal complaint against German police and Munich Airport after claiming he was racially harassed while travelling in Germany.

The four-time Olympic champion filmed an altercation between him and a uniformed police officer at Munich Airport on Tuesday, later claiming to have been victim to "racial harassment".

The 34-year-old gave a running commentary on the incident, which he branded "pure harassment".

He shared footage on Instagram Live as he was pushed towards the gate by the officer.

In a statement on Tuesday, a spokeswoman for Farah said there had been "an incident at a German airport" and Farah felt it "was racially motivated and that he was unfairly treated by the airport security staff".

She added on Wednesday: “Mo stands by his statement and has lodged a formal complaint with Munich Airport and the German Federal Police.”

It came after the German Federal Police responded to his claims on Wednesday.

Sir Mo Farah won the Big Half in London on Sunday

A spokesman said: "I cannot see any indication of racial harassment by the Federal Police officer at all."

He added: "On the way to his flight Sir Mo Farah had to pass the security check in Terminal 2 at Munich Airport.

"Security checks at Munich Airport are carried out by a private security company on behalf of the State of Bavaria. It seemed that Sir Mo Farah did not agree with this passenger security check performed on him and blamed this check a racist measure. Obviously he was very upset.

"As Sir Mo Farah didn't want to leave the security check point, security staff asked the Federal Police officer seen in the video for support. In cooperation with the security staff's supervisor, the officer tried to explain this routine measure to Sir Mo Farah and to calm him down. Unfortunately that didn't work.

"Then the officer asked him to leave the security check point because he was blocking the area. Sir Mo Farah got more and more upset. He continued arguing and blaming security staff and the Federal Police Officer being racists."

Police said Farah started to film the security check area "which is not allowed".

The spokesman added: "The officer asked him to stop immediately recording. As Sir Mo Farah ignored this police order the officer asked him to leave the security control area and proceed to his departure gate.

"Farah persistently ignored this second police order so that the officer slightly touched him and tried to direct him away from the security check area to the shopping and gate section what you can see in the video.

"Finally the Federal Police officer was properly carrying out his duty. I cannot see any indication of racial harassment by the Federal Police officer at all."

Farah's journey took him via Germany as he travelled from the UK to Ethiopia to complete his final training block ahead of next month's London Marathon.

The long-distance runner won the inaugural 'Big Half' in London on Sunday, his final warm-up race before he attempts to win the London Marathon on April 22.

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