Iran’s national soccer team sang during the playing of their national anthem at their second World Cup match against Wales on Friday, despite not singing in their opening game earlier this week in apparent support of protesters back home.
Loud jeers were heard from Iranian supporters as the anthem played, with the team singing quietly as it played. Iranian authorities have responded with deadly force to suppress protests that have marked one of the boldest challenges to its clerical rulers since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
Meanwhile Iran’s political turmoil threatened to overshadow the match against Wales as pro-government fans were reported to have harassed anti-government protesters outside the stadium in Qatar.
Some Iran fans confiscated Persian pre-revolutionary Iranian flags from supporters entering the stadium and shouted insults at those wearing shirts with the slogan of the country’s protest movement: “Woman, Life, Freedom.”
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Small mobs of men angrily chanted “The Islamic Republic of Iran” at women giving interviews about the protests to foreign media.
Many female fans were visibly shaken as Iranian government supporters surrounded them with national flags and filmed them on their phones.
Shouting matches erupted outside the security checkpoint at the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium between fans screaming “women, life, freedom” and others shouting back “the Islamic Republic”.
Some anti-government fans waved signs in support of the protest movement at Iran’s first match against England earlier this week.
