The advertising piece that broadcasts Colombian television about the Soccer World Cup that takes place in Catar, and that humorously refers to “being in the wrong place”; had a similar scene in the Arab country and the protagonist was a Brazilian journalist, special envoy to cover the ecumenical event.
the communicator, identified as Víctor Pereirafrom TV Nova, the channel of the South American giant, denounced that on November 22 the Qatari authorities they attacked him and two colleagues from his country in an act of homophobia and discrimination.
According to the story, the officers who apparently are part of the World Cup security services, arrested them because they carried the flag of the state of Pernambuco, northeast of Brazilwhich has a rainbow in the background that the Qataris confused with the flag of the LGBTIQ+ community, which is outlawed in the tiny, wealthy country on the Persian Gulf.
The journalist and his companions walked naturally through the streets of Cataclose to one of the stadiums where the matches take place, when they were detained by the authorities.
Pereira denounced that the officers they took away the flag that they carried with them, and they began to question them without even verifying the authenticity of the image of the insignia of the Brazilian state.
then the they threw it to the ground and then proceeded to trample itwhich represented an offense for the Brazilians who were confused by that gesture of the Qatari guards.
They even picked up the flag of Pernambuco, threw it on the ground and stepped on it. When some people intervened and softened the situation.
The video in which I recorded what they did to the flag was MANDATORY to delete! pic.twitter.com/WUti5vyL9D
— Victor Pereira (@ovictorpereira) November 22, 2022
In the midst of these facts, the journalist tried to record what happened to leave evidence of the mistreatment they went through.
Nevertheless, these clips also had to be deleted by orders of the authoritieswho also decided that journalists they could not take pictures or record videos about the soccer World Cup, because they considered that they had no reason to enjoy the festival of this sport.
Faced with the abuse of power by the authorities and the mistreatment to which Brazilians were exposed, people who were nearby decided to intervene, because they disagreed with everything that happened.
It was thanks to this that the journalists were able to defend themselves, get their cell phones back and leave the place.
As soon as the officers left, Pereira decided to use social networks to narrate the unpleasant experience, to for the case to go viral.
In this way, he made several videos telling what happened to him.
The reporter commented that what had happened to him seemed incredible, since he is legally in that country and is only there for work reasons.
“That is absurd, because we have authorization from FIFA to film absolutely everything.”
We were approached because of the flag of Pernambuco, which has a rainbow and they thought it was the LGBT flag. They took my cell phone and only gave it back to me when I deleted the video I had. pic.twitter.com/7X2oal8bq1
— Victor Pereira (@ovictorpereira) November 22, 2022
