Wednesday 25 March 2015 17:11, UK
Five Chelsea supporters suspected of involvement in an incident in Paris in which a black man was prevented from boarding a train will fight applications to impose football banning orders, a court has heard.
Controversy erupted when fans were filmed singing racist chants and refusing to let the man on the Paris Metro train ahead of Chelsea’s Champions League match against Paris Saint-Germain on February 17.
Several Chelsea supporters chanted: "We're racist, we're racist and that's the way we like it."
The Metropolitan Police are applying for football banning orders to be imposed on five men who they believe were involved in the incident.
The five all attended Waltham Forest Magistrates' Court in north-east London for a preliminary hearing on Wednesday.
They are: Richard Barklie, 50, Dean Callis, 32; Jordan Munday, 20, Josh Parsons, 20, and William Simpson, 26.
Prosecutor Ian Rees Phillips told the court - which was packed with legal representatives and reporters from the UK and France - that the five men opposed the implementation of the banning orders.
District Judge Mary Connolly said the orders would involve severe restrictions to civil liberties and adjourned the hearing until July 15 and 16 as she said she needed at least two days to consider the issue.
Banning orders are designed as a preventative measure to stop potential troublemakers from travelling to football matches at home and abroad.
The French commuter kept off the train, Souleymane S, has said the incident "destroyed" him and left him unable to work or travel on public transport.
