France’s Sports Minister Amelie Oudea-Castera wore a sweater with rainbow-coloured sleeves to France’s World Cup quarter-final in Qatar on Saturday in a message of help for homosexual rights. Oudea-Castera, a former skilled tennis participant, watched the sport from the VIP field as France beat England 2-1 to maneuver a step nearer to efficiently defending their title. The rights of the LGBTQ+ group and using the rainbow image have been a recurrent level of dialogue on the World Cup in Qatar, the place homosexuality is unlawful.

“It was important to express my support for human rights on the whole, notably LGBT rights.. and to do it in an unaggressive way with regards to Qatar, which is our partner,” she informed Franceinfo radio.

Saturday was the anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the UN General meeting in Paris in 1948, she stated.

Before the match, the French capital and several other different main cities stated they might not present matches from Qatar on public screens amid requires a boycott of the competitors.

President Emmanuel Macron, who argued that “we must not politicise sport”, is about to journey to Qatar on Wednesday to observe France play Morocco within the semi-final.

He had promised to help France in particular person in the event that they made it to the semi-final.

“I will come back with the president on Wednesday,” Oudea-Castera informed Franceinfo radio. “We’re working the details out.

“He (Macron) made this dedication and he’ll honour it with pleasure.”

Champs-Elysees clashes

Macron’s presence underlines the close ties between France and Qatar, which is an important gas supplier to Europe and major client for French military hardware.

France’s game with Morocco will be given added spice by the countries’ history, with Morocco one of France’s north African colonies during the 20th century.

France is also home to large Moroccan and Franco-Moroccan populations, with thousands of fans seen out in the streets celebrating on Saturday after the Atlas Lions beat Portugal 1-0.

Around 20,000 people headed to the Champs-Elysees in Paris on Saturday night where French and Moroccan supporters celebrated together, many of them with torn loyalties.

“It can be as if my father have been enjoying towards my mom,” Lilia, a 36-year-old woman of Franco-Moroccan origin, told AFP with a smile.

“I’m massively proud, particularly while you come from these two cultures, France and Morocco,” Hassan Ikan told AFP in a raucous bar just after the match.

“Seeing them each in a semi-final, it is simply utter pleasure,” he added.

The Champs-Elysees celebrations were soured late on Saturday night after police were targeted with fireworks and other projectiles, the city’s police department told AFP.

Seventy-four people were arrested and police fired teargas to disperse the crowd.

Football matches involving France and north African teams have been a source of divisive tension about immigration and national identity in the past.

A France-Algeria friendly in 2001 in Paris saw the French national anthem roundly booed in what was the first meeting on the pitch between the countries since Algeria’s independence in 1962.

Conservative and far-right politicians were incensed that many of those booing were apparently French people of Algerian origin.

The mood was not helped as the match had to be abandoned due to a pitch invasion with France leading 4-1.

“The Algerian nationwide anthem was not booed, there was respect for Algeria,” said French player Lilian Thuram afterwards.

“Why did these younger individuals, most of whom have been born in France, boo their nation’s anthem?”

Algeria’s victorious marketing campaign on the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations additionally noticed clashes with police in France throughout fan celebrations.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV workers and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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