Rainbow flags could be taken from fans at the World Cup in Qatar to protect them from being attacked, Major General Abdulaziz Abdullah Al Ansari told the AP.
Highlights
- NEW: Al Ansari says he is not telling LGBTQ fans to stay away from the tournament.
- NEW: “I am risking… a minority view against a majority,” he says.
- The FARE network, which monitors games for discrimination, called for the freedoms of fans to be respected at the World Cup.
- The group wants to see the tournament as a safe and inclusive place for people who want a place to play in the stadium, not a place where they can be seen as a symbol of discrimination, it says.
- FARE.com: “We are here to manage the tournament.
- Let’s not go beyond, the individual personal things which might be happening between these people…