Qatar's World Cup security chief warns rainbow flags may be confiscated

Rainbow flags could be taken from fans at the World Cup in Qatar to protect them from being attacked for promoting gay rights, according to a senior official overseeing security for the tournament.

Major General Abdulaziz Abdullah Al Ansari said LGBTQ couples would be welcomed and accepted in Qatar for the November 21- December 18 FIFA showpiece despite same-sex relations remaining criminalised in the conservative Gulf nation.

But he warned against the overt promotion of LGBTQ freedoms as symbolised by the rainbow flag that FIFA and World Cup organisers had previously said would be welcome across Qatar's eight stadiums.

«If he (a fan) raised the rainbow flag and I took it from him, it's not because I really want to … take it to really insult him, but to protect him,» Major General Al Ansari said.

«Because if it's not me, somebody else around him might attack [the fan] … I cannot guarantee the behaviour of the whole people. And I will tell him, 'Please, no need to really raise that flag at this point.'»

Major General Al Ansari is director of the Department of International Cooperation and chairman of the National Counterterrorism Committee at the Ministry of Interior where he discussed World Cup planning for an hour with AP.

"[If] you want to demonstrate your view about the [LGBTQ] situation, demonstrate it in a society where it will be accepted," he said.

«We realise that this man got the ticket, comes here to watch the game, not to demonstrate a political [opinion] or something which is in his mind.

»Watch the game. That's good. But don't really come in and insult the whole society because of this."

The potential confiscation of supporters' flags was condemned as «deeply concerning» by fan and anti-discrimination campaigners.

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