Abu Dhabi: A man here was arrested Friday according to a ‘Khaleej Times’ report after he locked Indian football fans in a bird cage prior to the India-UAE match in the AFC Asian Cup 2019 football tournament. The game was played Thursday and India lost to the hosts 0-2. The video of the man locking up the fans in a cage went viral prompting the UAE Attorney General’s office to arrest him for promotion of discrimination and violence through social media.
In the video, the man is seen asking some of his workers, locked up in a bird cage, about which team do they support between India and UAE? The men say India and are taunted by the man sarcastically. Only after they say that UAE will get the better of the Blue Tigers, are they released by the man.
“The video allegedly shows a man who locked up several men of Asian nationality in a bird cage. They were supposed to cheer for the UAE national team in their match against India in the AFC Asian Cup,” ‘Khaleej Times’ reported the Attorney General as saying in a statement.
“Legal action was taken, with reports submitted to the prosecutor’s office. A warrant was issued for the man who made the video, and he was arrested and brought in for questioning,” the statement read further.
The man however refuted charges of discrimination and instead said that the video act was a part of a ‘joke’ he played on the Indian workers. “These men are my workers, one of whom I’ve known for 22 years. It was just a prank,” the man said in another video release.”
Agencies
