Qatar World Cup 2022: Paris joins boycott of public screenings of games
Paris has joined several other French cities in a boycott of screening World Cup matches in public places in protest against human rights conditions, as well as environmental abuses, in the host nation Qatar.
The boycott comes as the competition is set to begin next month, with the French national football team already in Qatar preparing for the tournament. The French team is the defending champion in the tournament.
Local authorities in the cities of Marseille; Lille; Bordeaux; Reims; Nancy; Rodez; and now Paris have announced they will not install giant television screens for the public to gather and watch the sporting event.
Pierre Rabadan, deputy mayor of Paris in charge of sports, told reporters in the French capital that the decision against public broadcasting of matches is due to "the conditions of the organisation of this World Cup, both on the environmental and social level".
He said in an interview with France Blue Paris that "air-conditioned stadiums" and the "conditions in which these facilities have been built are to be questioned".
Rabadan stressed that Paris is not boycotting the football tournament, but explained that Qatar's "model of staging big events goes against what [Paris, the host of the 2024 Olympics] wants to organise".
Meanwhile, environmental activists across France have supported the cancellation of public broadcasting of the event because outdoor viewing of the tournament would use energy that the country has been storing for winter.
In the southwestern city of Bordeaux, authorities cited concerns about the energy cost associated with outdoor public broadcasts in the winter cold. The French government is calling for a sharp 10 percent reduction in the country's energy use to avoid the risk of rationing cuts this winter amid tensions with supplier Russia over the war in Ukraine.
"We are trying hard to save energy," Bordeaux mayor Pierre Hurmic told the Associated Press.
"It doesn’t make sense to roll out the red carpet to such a costly event in terms of energy and the environmental impact."
Qatar has faced intense criticism from human rights groups over its treatment of migrant workers. The government has said its labour system is a work in progress but denied a 2021 Amnesty report that said thousands of migrant workers were still being exploited.
Boycott is 'a little late'
Several European countries have announced some form of boycott over the international competition, including the Danish football team, which revealed shirt designs that were designed in protest against the conditions of migrant workers in Qatar.
Former French international football star Eric Cantona is also boycotting the World Cup.
But for France, the last-minute protests also come at a time when Paris has been home to billions of dollars of Qatari investment. The country's top club, Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), is owned by Qatar Sports Investment, a Doha-based sports and leisure investment company.
France also agreed to provide security services to Qatar during the global football event.
Qatar, on the other hand, is the fourth-largest recipient of French foreign direct investment, according to a study by Qadran, a Qatari-French business circle.
Laurent Bodin, an opinion writer for L'Alsace newspaper, said that while the call for a boycott is legitimate, "it's a bit late".
"Such behaviour cannot be selective. Those calling for screens to be turned off during the World Cup should stop following the news of Paris Saint-Germain, which is financed by Qatar, and many other clubs for which the state-owned airline, Qatar Airways, is a major sponsor," he said.
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