The Mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colauhas rejected the possibility that the consistory cede municipal spaces to watch matches of the World Cup Qatar 2022 because the country “is a dictatorship that violates human rights” and authorizing it would be “being complicit,” he said.
In the municipal plenary session in October, the mayor rejected a request from the Ciutadans group that asked the city council to give up spaces to follow the matches of the Spanish selection in the final phase of the World Cup.
Although he has expressed his support for the holding of sports competitions such as the World Cup and the transfer of spaces to follow finals, as has been done on previous occasions, Colau has refused “to make public resources or public space available to follow a World Cup what is done in a dictatorship”.
Criticism of FIFA
“It is a mistake to organize a world sporting event, which has to promote the values of democracy, peace and human rights, in a dictatorship,” added Colau, who has also charged FIFA for being “an accomplice in a dictatorship like the one in Qatar”.
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Along the same lines, the first deputy mayor, Jaume Collbonihas also expressed his rejection of the World Cup and has charged against the president of the FIFAwho yesterday said that the World Cup is an opportunity for the Arab country “to get rid of prejudices.”
“What the FIFA president calls prejudice is a violation of human rights, persecution of the LGTBI community and discrimination against women. The World Cup cannot be an excuse to whitewash the dictatorship,” he said in a message on his Twitter account.