Rainbow flags could be taken off fans at the World Cup in Qatar to protect them from being attacked, a senior leader overseeing security for the tournament has said. Major General Abdulaziz Abdullah Al Ansari insisted that LGBTQ couples would be welcomed and accepted in Qatar for the FIFA showpiece event from November 21 to December 18, despite same-sex relations remaining criminalised in the conservative Gulf nation.
But Maj Gen Al Ansari is against the overt promotion of LGBTQ freedoms as symbolised by the rainbow flag that FIFA and World Cup organisers had previously said would be welcome across Qatar’s eight stadiums. “If he (a fan) raised the rainbow flag and I took it from him, it’s not because I really want to, really, take it, to really insult him, but to protect him,” he told the Associated Press.
“Because if it’s not me, somebody else around him might attack (him). I cannot guarantee the behaviour of the whole people. And I will tell him, ‘Please, no need to really raise that flag at this point’.”
