World Cup 2022: Qatari official orders Danish journalist to remove 'One Love' armband

A danish reporter was ordered to remove an anti-discrimination armband by Qatari authorities while getting ready to report on the 2022 World Cup.

Jon Pagh, from TV 2 Sport, was wearing the 'One Love' armband while he was preparing to speak to the camera in front of the Danish player's hotel, when he was approached by a Qatari official.

"I respect that you are telling me that, but I can't take it off," the sports journalist, who kept the armband on, said.

"Why is it not allowed? Is it because of the colours?" he asked, to which the official replied "yeah", before obscuring the camera lens with his hand.

"It is just one love. It is just respecting everybody."

Mr Pagh and his colleagues from the TV 2 station are then reported to have left the site in Qatar, a country where same-sex relationships are criminalised.

The incident comes just under a week after video footage emerged of security staff in Qatar attempting to stop TV 2 Denmark's Rasmus Tantholdt during a live broadcast. He was reporting on the World Cup when he was approached, with Mr Tantholdt reportedly later saying that security had threatened to break his camera. TV 2 Denmark said it had obtained the appropriate accreditations to film and was reporting from a public place. Qatar's Supreme Committee subsequently apologised.

England and Wales were among the European nations to back down from wearing the OneLove armband, intended as a protest at all forms of discrimination at the World Cup in Qatar.

The decision, which reversed their previous stance of vowing to wear the armband, came after they were warned by FIFA they would face sporting sanctions, such as being issued with yellow cards, for doing so.

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