(Transcript from World News Radio)
It was only hours before kick-off of the Champions League football match between London club Chelsea and Paris St Germain in the French capital.
Rival fans mingled with commuters in the Paris Metro before a British businessman noticed that all was not well.
As Darren Mara reports, the events he captured on his phone's camera have sparked an international racism row.
"We're Chelsea, we're Chelsea, we're Chelsea ... we're racist, we're racist, and that's the way we like it, we like it."
This is from amateur footage taken of fans of the Chelsea football club on a Paris underground train on Tuesday night.
Their chant: "We're racist, and that's the way we like it."
The men stood in the doorway of the busy train carriage and twice prevented a black man from boarding.
They pushed him back onto the platform as he remonstrated with them.
The incident has sparked an investigation by the Paris prosecutor's office to find the individuals responsible and the Metropolitan Police in London have appealed for anyone with information to come forward.
Other Chelsea fans say the incident is a stain on the club.
"Outrageous. Outrageous. It slurs us. These couple of idiots doing it, you know. Outrageous to be honest."
"We're a great multi-racial, integrated club."
"It's not nice, it's not what anyone wants to see in this day and age."
"To hear that, of course, it's very offensive, it's very bad, especially for my kids."
The Chelsea football club has condemned the behaviour of the supporters in Paris.
It says their actions were "abhorrent" and that racism has no place in football or society.
Sepp Blatter, the President of football's world governing body, FIFA, has joined Chelsea in condemning the incident, as has European football's governing body, UEFA.
British Prime Minister David Cameron says the investigations should be handled with the utmost seriousness.
"Well, this does look extremely disturbing, very worrying. It's obviously, potentially, a criminal offence and so I'm sure the French police will be looking at it very seriously. I know the British police will give every assistance that they can and I'm sure Chelsea will cooperate with that fully. These are very serious matters."
Football authorities in Britain and around the world have taken great strides in recent years to combat racism and discrimination in the game.
FIFA's disciplinary code includes harsh penalties including expulsion for clubs and players displaying racist behaviour.
Paul Canoville is a former Chelsea player who became the club's first black player on his debut in 1982.
"As I said Chelsea will be on it, will be on top of their game and we will be dealing with it, and that's what we want, and that's what everybody wants because now all the world, not just ourselves, are looking at Chelsea at this moment and seeing how, what we are going to do about it."
Fighting racism in football is the main mission for British anti-discrimination group "Kick it Out'.
It's director, Roisin Wood, says it's been a long hard battle to stamp out racism, particularly in isolated pockets within some club fan bases.
"It's not unusual. I think, you know, it's in most clubs as in most of society, but again I have to emphasise it's the minority, not the majority. The majority of fans want to go to the game, they want to have that strong rivalry, but they don't want discrimination in football."
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