Arsenal fans launch ‘Visit Tottenham' campaign in protest at Rwanda deal
A group of Arsenal supporters have launched a campaign against the club's sponsorship deal with Visit Rwanda, calling for the deal to be scrapped ahead of next season.
As part of the campaign, Gunners For Peace have unveiled a 'Visit Tottenham' satirical billboard outside the Emirates Stadium. The group has said that Arsenal supporters would rather 'Visit Tottenham' than to continue to endorse the Rwandan regime.
The Rwanda Development Board, a government department, has been an Arsenal partner since 2018 and also has similar sponsorship agreements with Bayern Munich and Paris St-Germain. Paul Kagame, the Rwandan president, is an Arsenal fan.
Arsenal's deal with Visit Rwanda has come under increasing scrutiny in recent months due to the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In February, the UK government suspended aid to Rwanda over its support for the M23 rebel group in the area.
Arsenal's sponsorship agreement with Visit Rwanda is understood to cover the remainder of this campaign and next season, at least.
Gunners For Peace have cited a recent poll of almost 300 Arsenal supporters which found that 58 per cent of fans were in favour of the club ending its deal with Visit Rwanda. Of the polled supporters, 25 per cent opposed ending the deal and 20 per cent said they did not know.
As part of their protest, the group will be handing out armbands so fans can cover up the Visit Rwanda branding on their shirts during Arsenal's match against Crystal Palace on Wednesday night.
Alongside the 'Visit Tottenham' billboard, Gunners For Peace have also produced a satirical tourist video for Tottenham, the home of fierce rivals Tottenham Hotspur.
'Visit Tottenham is a joke with a serious punchline,' said James Turner of the Gunners For Peace supporter group. 'It's hard to think of a worse sponsor than Visit Rwanda, and together with many other Arsenal fans we are calling on the club to drop them.'
On their website, the Gunners For Peace group added: 'Arsenal is a great club. We have standards. Which is why Visit Rwanda needs to end.
'This is the same regime that's funding a brutal militia committing atrocities against thousands of innocent victims in Eastern Congo.
'We don't want our club to sell its soul to the highest bidder. And we certainly don't want to wear it on our sleeves. We think anything - literally anything - would be better than Visit Rwanda.'
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