Brazilian journalist at World Cup says regional flag mistaken for LGBTQ image By Reuters

By Steven Grattan and Gabriel Araujo

SAO PAULO (Reuters) – A journalist protecting the soccer World Cup in Qatar on Tuesday stated native police hassled him outdoors a stadium after a regional Brazilian flag was mistaken for an LGBTQ satisfaction flag.

Brazilian Victor Pereira stated authorities seized his telephone after he recorded a person’s damaging response to Pereira’s colourful flag of Brazil’s northeastern Pernambuco state, which sports activities a rainbow, a pink cross and a star.

He advised Reuters {that a} man carrying a standard white costume mistook it for the LGBTQ neighborhood’s rainbow flag when he was leaving the Lusail Stadium after Saudi Arabia’s shock 2-1 win over Argentina.

Homosexuality is against the law in Qatar and punishable with jail.

“This man carrying a white costume grabbed the flag, threw it on the bottom and began stomping on it. I took my telephone to file a video however he grabbed it from my hand and stated he would solely give it again if I deleted the video,” Pereira stated.

“Then an officer arrived and tried to intervene. He grabbed the telephone from the opposite man and ordered me to delete the video.”

Pereira stated he obeyed to ensure he would get his telephone again as he makes use of it for work. His case made the information on Tuesday after he uploaded a brand new video on Twitter relaying what occurred.

The Supreme Committee for Supply and Legacy, Qatar’s World Cup organizers, didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark, nor did the Qatari authorities’s media workplace.

Pernambuco’s governor Paulo Camara expressed his solidarity with Pereira on Twitter.

A U.S. journalist stated he was briefly detained on Monday when he tried to enter a World Cup stadium in Qatar whereas carrying a rainbow shirt in help of the LGBTQ neighborhood, additionally claiming his telephone was seized.