A World Cup match on Monday between Portugal and Uruguay was briefly interrupted by a protester who stormed the field to show his messages of support.
The protester, later identified as Mario Ferri, ran onto the field with a rainbow flag and a blue Superman T-shirt that read “SAVE UKRAINE” on the front and “RESPECT IRANIAN WOMEN” on the back.
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A pitch invader is caught as he runs across the pitch carrying a rainbow flag during the World Cup Group H soccer match between Portugal and Uruguay, at the Lusail Stadium in Lusail, Qatar, Monday, November 28, 2022. .
(AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
Security officers gave chase and the flag was dropped on the field before he was escorted away. The protester was led through a tunnel.
Ferri has a history of disrupting games to call attention to global issues. He, too, ran onto the field at the 2010 and 2014 World Cups and wore a T-shirt that read “Save Favelas Children,” according to Rolling Stone. Ferri also drove from Italy to Poland to help refugees who escaped the Russian invasion.
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The Qatari government has strict rules against gay sex and the treatment of LGBTQ people, which came under fire in the run-up to the World Cup. Seven European teams lost the battle to wear a multicolored “One Love” armband during matches, while fans ran into trouble trying to bring rainbow-colored items or wear something with a rainbow flag during matches.
A pitch invader runs across the pitch carrying a rainbow flag during the World Cup Group H soccer match between Portugal and Uruguay, at the Lusail Stadium in Lusail, Qatar, Monday, November 28, 2022.
(AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
A pitch invader runs across the pitch carrying a rainbow flag during the World Cup Group H soccer match between Portugal and Uruguay, at the Lusail Stadium in Lusail, Qatar, Monday, November 28, 2022.
(AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
Bruno Fernandes of Portugal told reporters that he thought the protester was trying to take a photo with Cristiano Ronaldo.
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“To be honest, I didn’t really see what the message was trying to get across,” Fernandes said through a translator. “But we’ve already talked about that many times… We respect all human rights, but those are political issues where unfortunately we don’t have much strength, where we can’t really change anything.”
Associated Press contributed to this report.
