Barcelona footballer Lamine Yamal waved a Palestinian flag during the club’s open-top bus parade celebrating its La Liga title victory Monday, drawing widespread attention on social media.
The 18-year-old Spain international was seen waving the flag as the team toured through the streets of Barcelona during celebrations attended by around 750,000 people.
Images of the gesture quickly went viral online and prompted reactions from supporters and public figures.
Spanish lawmaker Gabriel Rufian of the Catalan Republican Left (ERC), a known Espanyol supporter, praised the gesture on social media, writing: “Whether people like it or not. Let’s celebrate it. Good for him.”
“Thanks for this gesture full of humanity. Sport has the power to make visible what the world must not forget,” wrote the Madrid chapter of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement on Instagram.
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez was even asked about Yamal’s open support of Palestine at a press conference on Tuesday, to which he replied that “Spain has recognized the state of Palestine.”
Yamal, who was born in the Catalan town of Mataro to a Moroccan father and Equatorial Guinean mother, has previously spoken out publicly against racism and Islamophobia.
In March, after being targeted with Islamophobic chants during a Spain-Egypt friendly match, he wrote on Instagram: “Using a religion as an insult in a stadium makes people ignorant and racist. Football is for enjoyment, not for disrespecting people for who they are or what they believe.”
Barcelona striker Robert Lewandowski was also seen waving a Catalan independence flag, known as the Estelada, during the parade.
Barcelona footballer Lamine Yamal waved a Palestinian flag during the club’s open-top bus parade celebrating its La Liga title victory Monday, drawing widespread attention on social media.
The 18-year-old Spain international was seen waving the flag as the team toured through the streets of Barcelona during celebrations attended by around 750,000 people.
Images of the gesture quickly went viral online and prompted reactions from supporters and public figures.
Spanish lawmaker Gabriel Rufian of the Catalan Republican Left (ERC), a known Espanyol supporter, praised the gesture on social media, writing: “Whether people like it or not. Let’s celebrate it. Good for him.”
“Thanks for this gesture full of humanity. Sport has the power to make visible what the world must not forget,” wrote the Madrid chapter of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement on Instagram.
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez was even asked about Yamal’s open support of Palestine at a press conference on Tuesday, to which he replied that “Spain has recognized the state of Palestine.”
Yamal, who was born in the Catalan town of Mataro to a Moroccan father and Equatorial Guinean mother, has previously spoken out publicly against racism and Islamophobia.
In March, after being targeted with Islamophobic chants during a Spain-Egypt friendly match, he wrote on Instagram: “Using a religion as an insult in a stadium makes people ignorant and racist. Football is for enjoyment, not for disrespecting people for who they are or what they believe.”
Barcelona striker Robert Lewandowski was also seen waving a Catalan independence flag, known as the Estelada, during the parade.
