Two soccer fans from Brazil had their country’s flags confiscated by Qatar Police who thought they were LGBTQ+ colours.
This happened outside Lusail Stadium on Tuesday as fans were leaving the soccer venue after Saudi Arabia’s win against Argentina.
The brightly coloured was that of Pernambuco located to the north eastern part of the country.
As they were posing for a photo, a man wearing white traditional dress approached them and took away the flag.
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The man took away the flag, threw it on the ground and stepped on it. LGBTQ+ is illegal in Qatar and those found guilty are imprisoned.
Pereira told Reuters: ‘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.’
‘Then an officer arrived and tried to intervene. He grabbed the phone from the other guy and ordered me to delete the video.
This encounter appeared on the news where Pereira said that he obeyed the instructions so that he can get back his mobile phone which he uses for work. He later uploaded the video on Twitter explaining what exactly took place.
He said: ‘They said that they had no right to have done that and that, if I wanted, I could report it.’
Piera said that he was planning to report the incident and added that surveillance cameras around that area captured what happened.
The flag in question was first adopted in 1817 by the state when it obtained independence from Portugal.
The white stars located over the rainbow as well as the sun symbolize energy and strength.
Three days earlier, a U.S. journalist was detained for wearing a rainbow shirt in solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community. He alleged that his phone was seized too.
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