Yaya Toure Racial Abuse Twitter Attacks to Be Investigated by Police

Police are set to investigate allegations that Yaya Toure was racially abused on Twitter shortly after reactivating his account.

Manchester City's powerful midfielder ended his social media hiatus after the derby win over Manchester United. He posted a message celebrating the victory on Monday, before receiving "abusive and racist messages" from others, as reported by Paul Hirst of the Daily Mail.

Toure has since responded to his detractors:

Anti-racism campaigners Kick It Out acknowledged the incident and confirmed their intentions to alert the police to the discriminatory behaviour:

Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images

A spokesperson for the group also confirmed two tweets "of a racist nature aimed at Yaya Toure" had been met with a string of complaints, noted in Hirst's report. As of Tuesday, Toure had favourited one message of support which appeared to highlight the abuse received, posted by City fan Lesley Ross.

Such an incident isn't isolated, unfortunately. In September, Mario Balotelli received a slew of abuse after mocking Manchester United's loss to Leicester, as reported by Dion Dassanayake of the Express. Kick It Out also reported this to the police and a number of accounts from which racist messages appeared to be sent were quickly shut down.

Essex Police previously investigated suggestions West Ham striker Carlton Cole was the subject of such abuse in 2012.

Alex Livesey/Getty Images

In the same year, Sunderland fan Pete Copeland "admitted two offences under the Malicious Communications Act" after being prosecuted for posting racist comments toward black players at local rivals Newcastle United, according to the BBC. He was punished with a suspended four-month prison sentence and was ordered to complete 150 hours of community service.

A student who posted racist comments about former Bolton midfielder Fabrice Muamba was jailed for 56 days shortly after the Copeland ruling.

Former Liverpool striker Stan Collymore has received consistent bouts of abuse on Twitter and has worked avidly to try to improve policing around the matter.

Stu Forster/Getty Images

According to The Telegraph's Claire Duffin, Staffordshire Police claimed its July investigation had to be dropped after Twitter failed to respond to "repeated requests" for information on a number of offenders. Twitter denied these claims and suggested officers "stopped responding to our requests for additional legal clarification."

Via Duffin, Collymore accused Twitter of being "beyond UK law. For now."

Yaya Toure was the subject of racist chants during City's trip to face CSKA Moscow in the Champions League last season. The Russian club have been punished with multiple matches taking place behind closed doors due to three separate rulings against their supporters.

Epsilon/Getty Images

At the time of writing, Toure is yet to provide his second tweet after rejoining Twitter. He initially gave up on the site in order to focus on World Cup matters, per Hirst, but he may already be considering a more permanent exit after the response to his returning message.

The Ivorian star is set to feature during City's home tie with CSKA on Wednesday, where he will be hoping to inspire the team to their second important victory in four days.