While at the World Cup soccer tournament in Georgia, a woman noticed something that she believes was outright racism. She watched as security guards took every Egyptian they saw and directed them into a line for more thorough security checks. She was shocked by this, as well as some other things that happened at the event.
Anastasia (@anastasia_cooi) asked, “Is this how we treat people in our country over a game of soccer?” after some things she witnessed at the World Cup. What happened was that at the security check-out front, security guards would pull only Egyptian individuals into a separate line. When in that line, they would give them a more hands-on body scan with a metal detector. This looks like a standard thing to do, but Anastasia felt it was odd that they were mostly only doing it to Egyptian attendees.
In her video, she records as an Egyptian woman tries to walk through the security check with only her fan in her hand. A security guard pulls her to the side, surprising her. They also redirect another Egyptian woman into the same line. Then, the security guard checks the first woman up and down to make sure she doesn’t have anything on her. Anastasia was shocked, commenting, “This is racism. I’m not even joking. This is called racism.”
There Were Other Acts of Alleged Racism at Georgia World Cup
To add to that, Anastasia said in the caption to her video that she saw other shocking racist acts happen against Egyptians while there. On top of the intrusive security checks, she watched people throw water on Egyptians while they were playing soccer during the tournament. They did this “after every goal,” according to Anastasia. She asks her audience, “Why do I watch my family get mocked and thrown at? This is disgraceful, especially in America.”
Many commenters shared their immediate reactions on Anastasia’s post, appalled by the treatment of Egyptian people at the World Cup. One commenter pointed out, “This is actually absurd. FIFA is a joke at this point.” Another commenter shared, “Dude, this also happened to me when I went.”
Other commenters stated that “This is horrible and embarrassing.” The mistreatment and commentary as shown on Anastasia’s video sparked a variety of reactions from commenters. Many sided with her, showing support for the Egyptian people and calling out the racist acts.
