'I Feel Qatari': FIFA Head Rips Europe For Qatar Human Rights Uproar In Bizarre Speech

The head of the world soccer governing body FIFA in a bizarre speech on Saturday blamed Europe for triggering the controversy over human rights abuses in Qatar, this years World Cup host.

Qatar was chosen in 2010 as the venue for the international sports event after a massive bribe scandal involving FIFA officials. It was picked despite its record of migrant worker abuse, harsh rules involving women, and police attacks on people in the LGBTQ community in the conservative Muslim nation, where homosexuality is illegal .

The British are so worried about potential problems that they have dispatched a crew of special engagement officers to protect fans from zealot police in Qatar.

FIFI head Gianni Infantino called out the hypocrisy of outraged Western nations issuing moral lessons, given their own past histories. He compared his own suffering to migrant workers and the LGBTQ community in Qatar, explaining he was bullied as a boy in Switzerland because he had red hair and freckles. Thousands of migrant workers have died in the last 10 years in Qatar from the extreme heat and accidents building World Cup stadiums and related facilities.

You want to criticize someone, come to me, Infantino said in his hour-long lecture to the international press at the Qatar National Convention Center.

Criticize me. Here I am. Crucify me, Infantino said. Dont criticize Qatar.

Most shockingly he appeared to characterize himself as a representative of all people oppressed in Qatar or at least as someone with a profound understanding of what they experience in the nation.

Today I have very strong feelings, I can tell you that, Infantino said. Today I feel Qatari. I feel Arab. I feel African. I feel gay. I feel disabled. I feel [like] a migrant worker.

He added: Of course, I am not Qatari, I am not an Arab, I am not African, I am not gay, I am not disabled. But I feel like it because I know what it means to be discriminated [against], to be bullied, as a foreigner in a foreign country.

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