
Please try another search
By Steven Grattan and Gabriel Araujo
SAO PAULO (Reuters) - A journalist covering the soccer World Cup in Qatar on Tuesday said local police hassled him outside a stadium after a regional Brazilian flag was mistaken for an LGBTQ pride flag.
Brazilian Victor Pereira said authorities seized his phone after he recorded a man's negative reaction to Pereira's colorful flag of Brazil's northeastern Pernambuco state, which sports a rainbow, a red cross and a star.
He told Reuters that a man wearing a traditional white dress mistook it for the LGBTQ community's rainbow flag when he was leaving the Lusail Stadium after Saudi Arabia's shock 2-1 win over Argentina.
Homosexuality is illegal in Qatar and punishable with prison.
"This guy wearing a white dress grabbed the flag, threw it on the ground and started stomping on it. I took my phone to record a video but he grabbed it from my hand and said he would only give it back if I deleted the video," Pereira said.
"Then an officer arrived and tried to intervene. He grabbed the phone from the other guy and ordered me to delete the video."
Pereira said he obeyed to make sure he would get his phone back as he uses it for work. His case made the news on Tuesday after he uploaded a new video on Twitter relaying what happened.
The Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, Qatar's World Cup organizers, did not immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did the Qatari government's media office.
Pernambuco's governor Paulo Camara expressed his solidarity with Pereira on Twitter.
A U.S. journalist said he was briefly detained on Monday when he tried to enter a World Cup stadium in Qatar while wearing a rainbow shirt in support of the LGBTQ community, also claiming his phone was seized.
Are you sure you want to block %USER_NAME%?
By doing so, you and %USER_NAME% will not be able to see any of each other's Investing.com's posts.
%USER_NAME% was successfully added to your Block List
Since you’ve just unblocked this person, you must wait 48 hours before renewing the block.
I feel that this comment is:
Thank You!
Your report has been sent to our moderators for review
Add a Comment
We encourage you to use comments to engage with other users, share your perspective and ask questions of authors and each other. However, in order to maintain the high level of discourse we’ve all come to value and expect, please keep the following criteria in mind:
Enrich the conversation, don’t trash it.
Stay focused and on track. Only post material that’s relevant to the topic being discussed.
Be respectful. Even negative opinions can be framed positively and diplomatically. Avoid profanity, slander or personal attacks directed at an author or another user. Racism, sexism and other forms of discrimination will not be tolerated.
Perpetrators of spam or abuse will be deleted from the site and prohibited from future registration at Investing.com’s discretion.