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Akinwande Soji-Ojo
A female Argentinian television reporter was robbed live on air while reporting on the World Cup in Qatar, with money and documents stolen from her handbag.
According to UK’s MailOnline, Dominique Metzger was broadcasting from the Corniche area of Doha in the build up to the first match of the tournament when the items were stolen.
Speaking after the incident, Metzger said she reported the incident to local police, and was surprised by their response.
She told her television network, Todo Noticias (TN), that officials promised to identify the suspect and said she could choose the punishment for the alleged robber.
“I had my small bag on me with all the things that one needs, my wallet, the keys to our hotel room, some napkins,” Metzger told a TN network anchor.
“And you were dancing, right?” the anchor asked her.
“Yes, I was dancing with the crowd and I’m convinced that it was at that moment when someone opened the bag zipper and took my wallet,” the reporter replied.
The anchor asked if she thought it was a pickpocket that stole her wallet. While the robbery was not captured on camera, footage showed her dancing among a crowd with her bag hanging down to her side.
“I didn’t realise at that moment, you know you’re live on air, with music and crowds around you, and I was focused on you talking to me too. So I wasn’t paying attention.
“After I finish my live report, I wanted to take my wallet to buy a water bottle and then I realised I didn’t have it,” she recalled.
In a bid to crack down on crime, Qatar has installed thousands of cameras around its newly built stadiums, as well as 15,000 high resolution cameras inside every stadium, assisted by facial recognition technology.
There are also cameras all along the Corniche – a waterfront promenade extending for more than four miles along Doha Bay.
The tournament is being policed via a NASA-style control centre from which, for the first time at a World Cup, all eight stadiums can be simultaneously monitored by staff who can zoom in on a single fan.
Metzger said when she went to report her missing wallet, she claimed she was initially ignored on account of her being a woman. She said she was dismissed, after being told that her wallet would “appear” at some point.
“Male police won’t register you. As soon as I got to the police station, they took me to another place where there were only women. I asked why I was there and they told me as I’m a woman, it has to be a policewoman who has to help me,” Metzger said.
Once she was seen to by a policewoman, the reporter said she was shocked by what she was told.
“The moment I was being taken declaration was shocking. They told me, “What do you want justice to do about this? We will find the wallet… We have cameras everywhere, high-tech cameras and we will find the thief with face detection technology. What do you want justice system to do to them when they are found?” the reporter said.
Confused by the question, Metzger said she asked the police officers what they were talking about. They responded by asking her: ‘”Do you want us to sentence him to five years in prison, to be deported?” She asked me, to make the decision.
“I told them I just want my wallet back, I won’t be making the decision for the justice system,” She told her television network.
Metzger said she was robbed before the opening game of the World Cup tournament, which saw hosts Qatar lose to Ecuador 2-0 after a a flashy opening ceremony on Sunday night.
The beer ban imposed two days before the start of the tournament was the latest controversial snag for a global event already under scrutiny for Qatar’s human rights record and the emirates’ use of migrant workers to ready the nation for the event.
And as Qatar was losing its opening match, the fan zone in central Doha became a chaotic scene as tens of thousands of fans were pushed against police lines to enter the venue. Fans were trying to access the enclosed area that contained big screens for viewing matches and buy beer.
The incident involving the Argentinian journalist came after the Qatar Supreme Committee last week rushed to issue an apology to Danish broadcaster, TV2, after one of their journalists was threatened by security staff while live on air.