Fighting for my rights

For 55 years, Peter Tatchell, 70, has been beaten up at protests. Just back from Qatar, he reveals how he prepares for his injuries

When I was asked by Qatari human-rights defenders to stage a protest in Doha in the run-up to the World Cup, I was apprehensive.

Sure, I’ve done more than 3,000 protests over the last 55 years, been arrested 100 times and experienced 300-plus violent assaults. So I’m a risk-taker and not afraid of a few knocks.

But Qatar upped the risk factor to a much higher level. It is a police state where protests are banned. Protesters get beaten and jailed. Westerners have died after being arrested. I was afraid – but my fears were overridden by the importance of shining a light on Qatar’s abuse of women, LGBTs and migrant workers.

I knew protesters can end up in prison for several weeks – or months. I took a calculated gamble that the Qataris would not want bad publicity a month before the World Cup.

When I said goodbye to my partner the day I left for Doha, I was anxious. I did not know when we would see each other again. I made an addendum to my will and left him money to pay my share of the bills for the next few months, in case I was incarcerated. Unlikely, I thought, but not impossible. Best to prepare for an ugly outcome.

To get into Qatar, and evade pervasive state surveillance, I borrowed ruses and deceptions that I’d read about in spy novels: hiding my placard in a copy of the Daily Telegraph; using evasion techniques to lose any state agents on my trail; taking a new, clean mobile phone; and avoiding all contact with Qatari rights activists.

Once I got there, I posed as a tourist, visiting the information office and taking selfies outside Doha’s main attractions.

It worked. I succeeded in staging a one-man protest in front of the National Museum of Qatar. But not for long. Police and state security turned up. I was detained and interrogated on the pavement. When they warned me that what I was doing was illegal and a serious offence, I feared the worst.

To my surprise, after 49 minutes I was released and told to go to the airport and get my onward flight to Sydney. The Qataris apparently realised that jailing me would be a PR disaster 26 days before the start of the World Cup.

The story of my protest and the human-rights issues I raised were reported by over 4,000 media outlets worldwide, reaching an estimated audience of nearly a billion people.

That was the objective: to expose the abuses of the Qatar dictatorship and stand in solidarity with brave Qataris who are striving for democratic reform.

They can’t protest, out of fear of the draconian consequences. So I went to Doha to amplify their cause and support their struggle.

Since I was 15, I’ve done many similar protests – some are depicted in the current Netflix documentary Hating Peter Tatchell. They’ve included staging the first LGBT+ protest in a Communist country, in East Germany in 1973, which resulted in my interrogation by the Stasi. I went to Moscow in 2007 to support Russian LGBT+ activists who attempted to hold a Pride parade.

We knew the dangers and, sure enough, I and others were badly beaten by neo-Nazis, with police collusion.

I am best known for two attempted citizen’s arrests of the Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe – the more recent one, in 2001 in Brussels, resulted in my being beaten unconscious by his thugs. On the bright side, it helped highlight the brutality of his regime.

These bashings have left me with a bit of cognitive and eye damage. But it doesn’t stop me. I’m still campaigning.

Despite the many edgy protests that I’ve done, they’re still incredibly nerve-racking every time. I fear not succeeding – being caught before I manage to do the protest. I also fear jail time or being beaten. The nervous tension causes a splitting headache. I feel nauseous. My stomach churns over.

I get the shakes and my body temperature plummets. These physical discomforts don’t deter me. The campaign goal drives me on.

To reduce potential injury, I wear padded clothes and a small rucksack to protect my back. I stuff tissues in my back pockets to cushion a fall. My protest trousers have deep pockets or zips, so I don’t lose my money and phone if the police throw me around.

I carry ID and proof of address to reduce delays in my release after arrest. Protests are physically exhausting, so I pack sweets and an energy drink.

Some people say I’m brave. No. Not in comparison to truly heroic humanrights defenders in Russia, Iran, China and Ukraine. They pay with their lives and liberty. I’ve never been jailed or tortured. I’ve got off lightly.

Retirement? No, thanks. I’d find it boring and there are still many humanrights battles to fight and win.

I’m 70 now and hope to continue for another 25 years. Like the Duracell bunny, I plan to go on and on.

After a Neo-Nazi attack, Moscow, 2007

Hating Peter Tatchell is currently on Netflix