Cesar Augusto Londono and the Caracol Radio team had a tremendous scare in their first hours in Qatar. They were detained by the Doha Police when they were moving through the city in the early hours of this Friday.
The well-known journalist was rebuked by the authorities, who boarded the vehicle and told him to search the Army building with his cell phone. One of the many prohibitions of the Qataris in the middle of the World Cup.
Your teammate of The Pulse of Soccer, Óscar Rentería, told details of the tremendous scare on the radio program 6AM. In the end, fortunately for them, the situation did not escalate and they barely received a warning. It should be remembered that these behaviors will be grounds for sanctions in the middle of the World Cup.
“They got him out of our car and told him to hand over his cell phone because he was filming the buildings and that among those, there were Police and Army buildings and he couldn’t film them,” Rentería said in statements collected by Caracol Radio.
The journalist mentioned that Londoño “turned white, pale. I had to get out, give him a hug, try to revive him, and talk to the policeman to let him go.”
According to what was said, César Augusto tried to show the contents of his phone to the members of the Police, who refused to do so, assuring that they could be punished for accessing another person’s privacy.
Qatar had a series of bans in place at the 2022 World Cup, forcing visitors to pay special attention lest they end up penalized.
Among the controversial restrictions, which include the photographic registration of government and institutional buildings, there are also displays of affection and shouting in public and the consumption of alcoholic beverages, among others.
