Some Iranian fans hold up posters in support of the protest movement back in Iran during the World Cup soccer match between Iran and the U.S. Tuesday in Qatar.
While Iran’s national team faced the U.S. on the pitch, Iran’s politically divided fans faced each other in the stands.
The World Cup match between Iran and the United States on Tuesday was charged with emotion among Iranian fans, some of whom had come to Qatar not only to support their team, but the protest movement back home that was fueled by the death of Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old Iranian woman.
Like in Iran’s previous World Cup matches, government supporters tried to drown out protesters at Al Thumama Stadium in Doha. Some fans backing the protest movement said government supporters sought to intimidate them by shoving camera phones in their faces.
Shortly after the match, which the U.S. won 1-0, eliminating Iran from the tournament, scuffles erupted between Iranian protesters holding up portraits of outspoken former soccer player Ali Karimi, an icon of the protest movement, and a journalist from Iranian state-run media who was trying to film them. Security officials ultimately managed to separate them.
At least 455 protesters have been killed and more than 18,000 detained since the start of the unrest in Iran, according to Human Rights Activists in Iran, a group that has been monitoring the protests. (AP)
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