Italian Manchester City striker Mario Balotelli has threatened to walk off the pitch at Euro 2012 if he is racially abused and has said he would kill anyone who dares to throw a banana at him. He spoke out amid increasing concerns that black players will be targeted by racists when the tournament kicks off in Poland and Ukraine next week. 

The families of England players Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Theo Walcott will not travel to Ukraine because of fears for their safety but Balotelli, of Ghanian descent, said: “I will not accept racism at all. It’s unacceptable. If someone throws a banana at me in the street, I will go to jail, because I will kill them. Lets see what happens at the Euros, I hope it will pass without a problem. I really couldn’t deal with that.”

Ukraine said a BBC Panorama documentary was ‘xenophobic’ after it showed their fans giving Nazi salutes and taunting black players with monkey noises. Government spokesman Oleh Voloshyn said: “It portrayed eastern Europe as mentally not equal to the rest of Europe. We believe this report is outrageous, done in the best traditions of Soviet journalism. Ukraine is one of the leaders in Europe in terms of religious and racial tolerance.”

I guess time will tell.

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