Qatar 'Fifa World Cup', Anti-hijab Protesters Harassed During Iran Match Against Wales

A report said that before the game started, pro-government fans from Iran confronted protesters against the country’s forced hijab law. This happened before the match between Iran and Wales at the 2020 World Cup in Qatar.

Some protesting fans said their flags were taken from them, and others said they were yelled at and made fun of. BBC said that security guards at Doha Stadium also took away T-shirts and other items with anti-government messages.

A glimpse of the anti-hijab protests, which have become one of the biggest challenges to Iran’s theocracy since the months after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, was seen on Friday when a supporter posed with another supporter holding a football jersey with Mahsa Amini’s name on it.

The woman’s face was painted to look like she was crying blood.

But the protests against the hijab were met with insults and threats. Some people wearing T-shirts that said “woman, life, freedom” were reportedly insulted. This phrase has become a rallying cry for people protesting against Iran’s government.

Reports say that after pro-government fans complained, Qatari police told a supporter to wash off the names of protesters killed by Iran’s security forces from her arms and chest. Another woman said that she couldn’t wear a T-shirt with the face of Mahsa Amini on it.

¿Libertad en Qatar?

A una mujer con una camiseta con la imagen de Mahsa Amini, símbolo de protestas por los derechos de las mujeres en Irán, le prohibieron ingresar al estadio para ver el duelo entre Irán y Gales.

También portaba una bandera que decía "Mujer, Vida y Libertad". pic.twitter.com/jEg8j9MqvV

— Óscar David Ríos Gil |🎙️✍️📹 Periodista Deportivo (@Orios8) November 25, 2022

Pro-government fans are also said to have surrounded female fans who had the words “woman life freedom” painted on their faces and filmed them on their phones while chanting “The Islamic Republic.”

Iran beat Wales 2-0, and before the game, as the Iranian players sang their country’s national anthem, people booed and whistled at them. The players didn’t want to sing the national anthem before their first game against England in the World Cup.

Rouzbeh Cheshmi and Ramin Rezaeian scored two late goals in stoppage time on Friday to help Iran beat Wales in a dramatic Group B match.

Protests over the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman who was in the custody of the Morality Police for allegedly breaking the rules that require women to wear hijabs and modest clothing, have spread across Iran.

Women are leading the protests by burning headscarves, letting their hair down in public, and knocking the turbans off the heads of Muslim clerics who have stood for the forced hijab law.