Soccer World Cup in Qatar
Qatar official: Rainbow flags will be confiscated to protect fans
The rainbow flag stands for anyone who deviates from the heterosexual world in their sexual orientation or identity
© Wolfgang Kumm / DPA
A high-ranking security official from Qatar has explained why police officers could confiscate rainbow flags during the soccer World Cup: It is solely for the safety of the fans.
It sounds like a pretense justification for preventing the display of rainbow flags during the soccer World Cup in Qatar at the end of the year: If security forces confiscate the colorful flags, it will be in the interest of the supporters. If a fan “shows the rainbow flag and I take it away from him, it’s not because I really want to take it to offend him, it’s to protect him,” Major General Abdulasis Abdullah Al Ansari told the AP.
“Because if it’s not me, someone might attack him. I can’t guarantee everyone’s behavior. And I’ll tell him, ‘Please, there’s no reason to show the flag here.’
FIFA President: Everyone is welcome in Qatar
Al Ansari is, among other things, the chairman of the National Counter-Terrorism Committee in the Qatar Interior Ministry. The rainbow flag stands worldwide as a symbol for the acceptance of sexual and gender diversity.
The World Cup host Qatar is not only criticized by international organizations because of the human rights situation and the conditions for foreign workers. Amnesty International recently ruled that women and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people (LGBTI+) “continue to be discriminated against both by law and in everyday life”. Homosexuality is illegal in Qatar.
Fifa President Gianni Infantino recently said: “Everyone will see that everyone is welcome here in Qatar, even if we are talking about LGBTQ+.” In the past, FIFA had emphasized that rainbow flags were allowed in the stadium. The Qatari World Cup organizers said they would respect the world governing body’s guidelines in this regard.
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Al Ansari said he would not advise any LGBTI+ fans to travel to Qatar. “Book a room together, sleep together, it’s none of our business,” he said. Anyone who wants to demonstrate their views on the LGBTI situation should do so in a society “where it is accepted”.
In general, officials in the desert seed seem to be getting nervous because they fear increasing criticism of the human rights situation. A few days ago, the head of the World Cup, Nasser Al Khater, warned the English national coach Gareth Southgate to choose his “words more carefully”. Southgate had expressed concern about the situation of migrant workers in the country, saying “it would be a shame if some fans didn’t travel to the tournament because of their own safety concerns”.
