Four Chelsea fans given suspended sentences for racist violence in Paris

PARIS ( Reuters) - Four Chelsea fans were given suspended jail sentences and fined by a Paris court on Tuesday for committing racist violence when they stopped a black Frenchman boarding a metro underground train in the French capital in February 2015.

Video footage had shown the four, who were there to watch the London club play Paris St Germain in a Champions League match, chanting: "We're racist and that's the way we like it" as they blocked Souleymane Sylla from getting on the train.

Richard Barklie and William Simpson, who were not in court, were given 12-month suspended sentences on charges of committing racist violence and making chants of a racist nature.

Josh Parsons and James Fairbairn, both of whom appeared in court on Tuesday, were handed suspended sentences of eight months and six months respectively on similar charges.

The four were ordered to pay 10,000 euros (8,500 pounds) to Sylla.

(1 British pound = 1.1766 euros)

(Reporting by Miranda Alexander-Webber; Writing by Ingrid Melander; Editing by Richard Balmforth)