I feared for my safety as Qatar security heavies intimidated me
FOR the first time since arriving in Doha I feared for my safety. Yesterday, I saw the ugly side to this World Cup, a side that involved censorship and intimidation — which nearly led to my arrest.
I was outside the Al Janoub Stadium ahead of Ghana versus Uruguay. I had been told that at previous Ghana games, free tickets had been handed out to supporters before the security gates.
About an hour before kick- off, Ghana fans began to form queues, with a group of men directing them into three separate lines. This queue broke up several times, with fans pushing and shoving each other. There was no sign of security at this point. I started to film what was happening.
I was told fans were waiting for a government official to arrive and ‘ share the tickets’, as he had allegedly done at the previous two games. But with less than an hour to go before kick- off, he had not arrived. One of the men involved in the organisation told me fans were not going to be given the tickets as they were not behaving properly.
By the time the match had kicked off the group started to disperse, but suddenly hundreds began running towards the barriers. By now there was a bigger security presence, with police on horses alongside officers carrying shields. But they could not prevent what became a dangerous stampede towards the entrance.
I had to get myself out of the way to avoid being knocked over. Several fans without tickets jumped the barriers and were let through by powerless security staff. There was a real danger of a crush. Women and children were in tears, with one young girl and her father let inside to escape.
I had filmed everything and shared the videos with my editors. I was standing by the gate after the situation had been controlled when eight security officers approached me.
I was told I had to wait there but was given no reason. I became concerned. There were officers either side of me, meaning I could not move. I just kept being told I had to wait there. I rang my colleague Mike Keegan and put him on speaker phone as I wanted somebody to hear what was happening. After repeatedly asking why I could not leave, one security officer said they had seen me filming and that I did not have the right to do so.
I explained I was a journalist with media accreditation and showed him my approval email confirming this. It was not accepted and I was told I had to have a printed pass. This is not true as there were supporters filming outside the stadium and they were not told to delete their videos.
I was then told I had two options, to either delete all of the video I had taken or be escorted to the police.
The exchange (as recorded, by Mike Keegan) went like this... Kathryn: I have host media access. My name is on the system. Guard: You have to have a physical pass that allows you to film. You have two choices, you erase everything you take or (muffled). K: You want me to delete everything I have? All video or be arrested? Yes?
K: I have an email that say access has been granted. I can delete.
G: I need to make sure. Are you on the phone now?
K: Yes to my boss.
I agreed to delete the videos but they insisted they had to check the phone as well as my email and WhatsApp account to check I had not sent it to anybody. I managed to erase the WhatsApp messages that contained the videos.
The guard then took a photo of my Hayya card ( Visa) and checked my email and WhatsApp account before I was told I was free to leave.
This situation needed to be reported. It was dangerous and the authorities are lucky nobody was badly injured. Journalists should not be threatened with arrest for doing their job.