No fan zones or giant screens: Paris, Marseille, Bordeaux, Nancy and Reims joined the list of French cities on Monday refusing for humanitarian and environmental reasons to promote the World Cup matches in Qatar, which will take place from November 20 to December 18.
They follow suit in Strasbourg, Lille or Rodez.
"This competition has gradually turned into a human and environmental disaster, incompatible with the values that we want to see carried through sport and in particular football", explained the Marseille municipality, led by the socialist Benoît Payan at the head of a broad coalition of leftists and ecologists.
“Marseille, strongly attached to the values of sharing and solidarity in sport and committed to building a greener city, cannot contribute to the promotion of this 2022 Football World Cup in Qatar,” insisted the city in a press release.
"I would really have the impression, if Bordeaux were to welcome these fan zones, to be an accomplice" of "this sporting event which represents all the humanitarian, ecological and sporting aberrations", declared for his part the environmentalist mayor of Bordeaux on Monday morning. Pierre Hurmic to several media.
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The city of Nancy pointed out in a press release the “lag” of “the use of air-conditioned stadiums during this World Cup (…) with the challenges of ecological transition” and called on “the organizers (…) to “seriously review the rules allocation of the next World Cups" in order to "integrate these issues" of "sobriety" and "respect for human rights".
Finally, for the mayor of Reims Arnaud Robinet (Horizons), “at a time when the public authorities are asking (…) to reduce (the) energy consumption, such installations would give rise to legitimate misunderstanding (…) for one of the most controversial events in the history of sport".
"Energetic aberration"
Among the reasons for this boycott include the treatment of immigrant workers and the number of deaths in the construction of the eight stadiums of the World Cup.
While the official toll is only three dead, the International Labor Organization reported in a report that 50 workers died in workplace accidents in Qatar in 2020, and 500 seriously injured.
A figure that could be higher according to her due to shortcomings in the accident registration system.
In addition to the question of human rights, Pierre Hurmic also refused to be "incoherent" in relation to the efforts requested of the population in terms of "energy sobriety".
"You cannot call your fellow citizens to sobriety and yourself be complicit in energy aberration of this nature," he said.
The environmental mayor of the city, elected in 2020, clarified that the decision would have been the same if the World Cup had been played in the summer.
And no screens will be put up if France make it to the final, he said.
A month and a half before the start of the competition, the mayor of Bordeaux is convinced "that other mayors will make identical decisions in the days to come".
He also indicated that he would not watch the competition.
On Saturday, the socialist mayor of Lille Martine Aubry had also announced that no giant screen would be installed, denouncing "nonsense with regard to human rights, the environment and sport".
A decision also taken in Rodez and Strasbourg, in particular.
A “hypocritical” decision
The cost of fan zones, and the relevance of such an installation in the middle of winter, is not an argument put forward by the municipalities, but nevertheless raises questions.
Already for Euro 2021, “costs and health restrictions” had prevented the establishment of fan zones in Paris before the quarter-final, indicated to the Parisian Pierre Rabadan, deputy mayor in charge of sports.
Invited this Monday morning on RMC, Nabil Ennasri, author of "The enigma of Qatar", judged the decision of the mayors "hypocritical".
“We cannot make Qatar a strategic ally, sell it weapons, woo its oil, and ignore it for four weeks of competition.
There must be a minimum of political coherence.
If there must be a boycott on the basis of human rights violations and an ecological aberration, we boycott at all levels and we don't do things by halves.
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The Qatar specialist particularly underlined the inconsistency, according to him, of the positioning of the mayor of Lille.
“Martine Aubry, who seems to be waking up today, belonged to the same political party (PS) as François Hollande, who was the first to sell Rafales to Qatar.
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