A SALISBURY man was confronted by police during a World Cup game in Qatar for wearing a rainbow armband. 

Mark Potts had the armband in support of LGBTQ+ rights multiple times, once having had it thoroughly inspected by security when entering, but it wasn’t until Sunday, December 4 that authorities confronted him about it.

Mark said: “On one occasion, the rainbow armband was taken out of my bag, because you had to go through security; it was taken out of my pouch by one of the security officers and it was shown to his supervisor, and they just said, ‘Oh, don’t worry,’ and they just gave it back to me, so it had clearly been seen by security before and they decided not to do anything.”

In late November, following reports of confiscated items containing the rainbow symbol, news circulated that FIFA had reminded Qatar of its obligation at World Cup venues to permit the use of rainbow flags and the wearing of clothing with symbolism promoting LGBTQ+ equality and anti-discrimination.

During the Ghana vs. South Korea match, Mark said that, yet again, the implication was that the armband would not become a problem.

Mark said: “I was wearing it and a security guy looked at me, and he said to another security guy who was with him. ‘What’s that he’s got on his arm?’ and the other guy said, ‘Oh, it’s a gay pride armband.’ And that was it, nothing; they didn’t take any action.

“So the view I had was well, they must be allowing this.”

However, at the Fan Festival at Al Bidda Park, during the half-time of the match between Poland and France on December 4, a young man approached Mark and asked him about his armband.

Mark said: “A boy noticed me wearing it and he came up and asked me what it was and I explained it to him. I think he probably knew already, but he said, ‘Oh, you shouldn’t be wearing that. Give it to me.’”

When Mark refused to hand over the armband, the young man threatened to report him to security. Having not had issues when security clearly saw the armband before, he was not concerned.

Mark: “Five minutes later, there were about five policemen turned up, security forces turned up and asked me to remove it.”

The young man later identified himself as a police informant, yet the police denied this.

Mark pulled out his mobile and began recording audio of the incident. However, authorities witnessed him do this and later forced him to delete it, claiming that he “didn’t need to take any audio recordings because if any of the police mistreated anybody it was all on camera.”

Mark believes trying to record the incident on his phone may have led to his short detention rather than simply being instructed to remove the armband on the scene. He had already been in contact with BBC Radio Wiltshire to provide a fan’s perspective on the radio of experiencing the games in Qatar.

Mark was taken to a large area of tents set up as temporary security offices in the back area of the Fan Festival for a harrowing 90 minutes, during which his friend was waiting nearby, equally unsure of Mark’s fate.

Mark was asked to make a statement and sign a form attesting that he wouldn’t repeat the behaviour, upon which his armband was confiscated.

Mark said the Qatari police were never aggressive or acted angrily, but were assertive and insistent.

He said: “There was no way I was going to be able to leave, A, without handing over the armband, and B, without deleting the audio. They were very clear about that.”

Mark has been inspired to stand up for LGBTQ+ rights for years. His best friend growing up was gay and took his own life in the 1990s.

Mark said: “I always think of him when I think of LGBT, so I guess in many ways I was wearing it for him because he was also a big football fan, you know, he loved his football, and I said to the officers- they said, ‘Well, why do you wear it?’ and I said, well, it’s for all my LGBT friends, thinking of him and other people I know, who couldn’t be here.”

After the formalities of the police forms were finished, the authorities chatted with Mark about football and one gave him a small lecture about the Islamic perspective of homosexuality.

Mark said although the authorities may have voiced conservative views on LGBTQ+ rights, they all seemed to respect him for wearing the armband in honour of his departed friend, as well as other LGBTQ+ friends who felt unsafe traveling to Qatar for the World Cup.

Mark said: “I think they sort of respected that, they sort of said, ‘Oh, you’re wearing it for your friends.’ They sort of respected that.”