The man who ran onto the pitch during the Qatar World Cup match between Portugal and Uruguay waving a flag for LGBTQ rights, Ukraine and Iranian women is a famous Italian figure.
The World Cup has caused controversy because of the clampdown on any kind of protest in the stands or on the field, with players banned from wearing a One Love armband and fans not allowed to enter the stadium with anything that has a rainbow on it.
Homosexuality is illegal in Qatar and any symbol of LGBTQI+ rights is also confiscated by the authorities.
That didn’t stop Mario Ferri, known as Il Falco – The Falcon, from running onto the pitch during the match between Portugal and Uruguay waving a rainbow flag.
He also had his traditional Superman T-Shirt, but this time it had two different messages on it.
The front read ‘Save Ukraine’ and the back had ‘Respect for Iranian Woman.’
Ferri was arrested, but that’s nothing new to him, as the 35-year-old also had pitch invasion stunts at the Club World Cup, Belgium-USA in the 2014 World Cup and Napoli–Juventus in 2017, amongst others.
When you enter a country you must respect and follow their laws. This criminal should be dealt with to the full extent of Qatari law.
WOW 👆🏼
Guess he’ll be released in what, several months, years…?
nothing to be proud of. This degenerative inverted pseudo reality of wokeness needs to end.
Far out Rocco, bit of a homophobe much? Great to hear you’re a great law abiding citizen
Is it wrong to respect the law of a nation you’re a guest in, Franco? That was a very racist comment from you. Sounds like extreme left ideology, you should keep your dangerous ideas out of football.
It’s impossible to understand the madness and hypocrisy coming from the West especially for an Italian…if you can not respect the law of host country, then you stay in your country.. Italian super cup has been played in Saudi Arabia for years now and no one went crazy about that because that brings revenue to Italy..complete hypocrites
You all say respect the host country’s rules, but I’m still waiting for someone to answer this :
If the west ban headwear for women in their countries, would you tell the Muslims the same thing? to abide or leave? And will they comply or do they start removing heads in protest?
As far as I’m concerned, you fight what you think is wrong, in a peaceful manner, no matter where you are. World Cup is a spectacle for the World and all its people, not only those in the host country.
The reason why no one replies to you, Milan Fan, is because they do not want to lower themselves to your level.
You are an islamophobe. You’ve been brainwashed by your country’s media.
I said I will not post on FI anymore, but I came back for you because we had multiple conversations in the past.
I hope you can educate yourself and read a book on Islam. You can choose any author, even an Israeli, as long as they are a SCHOLAR, someone who studied the topic.
Now, if you hate women and want them to freeze during winters without headwear, I can’t help you.😄
@ROMAntic
You sure typed a lot but still didn’t answer the question. It’s a simple question. And you don’t know anything about me or my country, so stop as.suming.
@Milan Fan
It’s an ignorant and hateful question, one that reveals how spiteful and intolerant you are towards Muslims.
I thought you’d be proud to be called an Islamophobe considering all the comments you made that FI removed?
You are living in a country that is daily purposely dehumanising these people. That is obvious.
Same is true for me, but I decided to learn from scholars rather than the media and internet trolls.
Don’t listen to me. I told you: Go to a credible source and educate yourself.
@ROMAntic
You can’t be more off base in your as.sumptions. It’s funny… but anyway, not really interested in hearing what you DON’T know about me. You want a discussion then answer the question, otherwise move on.
You desperately want to point out some kind of hypocrisy or double standard.
Do Muslim countries protest against LGBT promotion or try to force alcohol abstention when the World cup is played in the USA or France??
Because THAT is an equal example!
Muslims abide by the laws of the country they live in. Those who don’t are rightfully punished or imprisoned. A man cannot marry two wives in the USA, even if all three love each other and want it.
Why would the west SUDDENLY ban Muslim headwear, but not other religious headdresses?
It would be a sign of targeting & discriminating Muslim women. That would be Islamophobic, you beautiful BEAUTIFUL Islamophobe!
Muslims would rightly protest that heinous act.
How is that an equal example? Protesting something that is allowed is not the same as protesting something that is banned or forbidden. One is protesting for liberty and freedom, the other would be protesting to take other’s freedom away from them and make them miserable.
Seems to me you’re the one in need of education with those examples.
And this may come as a shock to you, but there are many MANY people in Muslim countries who do NOT wish to abide by the laws of their country because they are wrong and you’re a horrible human being to say they are rightly being punished or imprisoned. It’s not easy like in the west to protest something in most Muslim countries you know, case in point Iran right now.
By your logic every dictatorship in history should’ve lasted and it was wrong of their people to not abide/protest.
OK, Milan Fan, then protesting FOR polygamy which isn’t allowed here in the west. It takes their freedom away and makes them miserable.
That is an equal example.
Why are we so arrogant? We went to other lands forcing other cultures to cover their exposed parts.
Who decides how much must be covered or which seksual preference is moral??
Surely, siblings who “love” each other also suffer because they are not allowed to show their affection on the streets. Should we care about their rights?
Who decides when to involve politics in sports? Where was the criticism of Russia in WC 2018?
The people who are dehumanising Muslims don’t really care about the LGBT rights. Qatar is being targeted for other reasons I cannot write here.
You have the wrong idea about me or many people like me. I’m not really pro LGBT as you might think. I’m even against the current form of the woke movement which is out of control and currently took over the west and Hollywood, but at the same time it’s a fact that Muslim countries are of the most intolerant and tyrannical on their people, at least those who do not believe in their beliefs.
I also denounce all religions personally. Now this doesn’t mean good, peaceful Muslim people should be blamed, but it does give people the right to call them and their governments out on their ignorant ways. Same with any other religion.
Regarding polygamy, if one wants to protest for it in the west, that’s fine by me. I’m sure if they do, no one would stop them, at least not the government. They won’t be oppressed brutally because they believe in something different to the government’s ideology. Thing is, most Muslim countries are run by the law of the religion, while in the west church and state are separated, as it should be.
The sibling thing doesn’t fit though, as it’s not against the law to show affection in the streets (in the west) but if anyone wants to protest to make sibling loving legitimized, I might be repulsed by it, but I certainly won’t beat or imprison them, and NO GOVERNMENT should do it too. That’s dictatorship.
You think there are no LGBT people in Muslim countries? There are, and I don’t think it’s right to harm them because of their rules or religion, do you?
Sports is a mean to bring people together. In the old days, nations warred, now there are sport competitions and the Olympics. Bringing politics into sport is wrong but promoting freedom, inclusion and diversity is not politics. It’s called bringing awareness to those parts of the world. What you need to understand is that when people protest for the LGBT rights, they are not promoting their own countries’ politics, but they’re promoting their community’s rights, and that includes LGBT people in countries like Qatar, too. They’re giving voice to those oppressed people. I’m not singling out Qatar, but all nations like them, though at least those other nations don’t go around bribing FIFA to host a World Cup when they know they’re not tolerant.
Milan Fan, I truly appreciate all you have written. With all the censoring that is going on here, I know you invested a lot of time.
I’m not religious, but have read hundreds of books on Abrahamic faiths to better understand humanity.
Therefore I know how dishonestly Islam is portrayed by our media.
There are almost 2 billion Muslims in the world! It is illogical to believe there are this many evil or primitive people.
I am very much opposing physically harming the LGBT community, but also promoting it. I view it as a Pandora’s box, one that will unleash other true monstrosities.
I can’t stand HYPOCRISY and ILLUSORY SUPERIORITY.
Next WC will be in the USA. Let’s see what our media writes when countries get prohibited from wearing pro Palestinian armbands. USA right now has laws oppressing the supporters of Palestine.
Because of the mess we created in their country, children in Yemen are chewing their own hands due to starvation. Most of us don’t know much about it, yet we hear when someone gets arrested for displaying rainbows.
The east has DIFFERENT culture. It is not a competition. If color is blue, it can’t be red. Each has its qualities.
Muslims simply cannot accept LGBT as it opposes their fundamental values. You need to have an unbiased read about Islam to truly understand and maybe even respect it.
OK, enough. I turning into a freaking Islam apologist!
It seems we have different value prorities and it is pointless to continue this conversation.
I only tried to show you that your Islamophobia comes from our western bias and propaganda.
I wouldn’t write this much for someone I don’t care.
So take care, Milan Fan.
I think you’re absolutely right when you say we only have different value priorities, and that is for obvious reasons which require another long discussion to get to the roots of, which is out of everyone’s patience. But other than that, I don’t disagree with your points. USA and European countries are no saints, have their own problems, among them what you pointed out. Similarly, all religions have the potential to corrupt people same as they can guide people, but imo Islam has the most potential in this regard by some distance, as is proved in recent modern history. This doesn’t mean I consider all ordinary Muslim people evil, but their leaders who follow the rules of their holy book to the letter usually are, because those are rules from a thousand years ago. Christianity will face the same problem if they decide to follow the rules as it was back then, as we sometimes see in cults.
I am completely familiar with the culture in the east, and I call religious people out (Muslims mostly yes, because I have first hand experience on the matter) on their views because I think our religions, like us, need to evolve if we plan to keep them relevant. That’s all.
Thanks for taking the time, and take care.