24-01-2010, 04:22 PM
Charges against two Liverpool fans labelled "racists" by police for using the word "Yank" have been thrown out of court.The pair had joined hundreds of fellow supporters at Anfield chanting "Yanks Out", in a protest against the Merseyside club's unpopular American owners, on December 13.But James McKenna, 22, was singled out during the peaceful protest and arrested by two police officers, who deemed his involvement in the protest "racist".Mr McKenna and one other fan were taken by police to nearby Wavertree police station, where they were kept for six hours, before being charged with public order offences.But at a hearing at Liverpool's Community Justice Court, the case against the two fans was thrown out by the Crown Prosecution Service after just a few minutes.Speaking a week after the January hearing, Mr McKenna, a member of the Spirit of Shankly supporters club said: "I just shouted ‘Yanks Out!’"The police were out on their horses and they grabbed me.