Rotterdam Pride underway with rainbow flag flying over Feyenoord on Pink Saturday

Football club Feyenoord raised the rainbow flag on Saturday as part of Pink Saturday on the Maasgebouw, which is next to the Feijenoord Stadium in South Rotterdam.

The club raised the flag to show that it supports diversity, despite the fact that some Rotterdam supporter groups recently broadcast hurtful chants and banners to the public and via social media. On the banners, several people, including Rotterdam mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb and his daughter, were threatened with death and Adolf Hitler was glorified.

"By putting up this flag, we want to make it clear once again that we are a club where everyone, whatever they look like, whoever or whatever they are and whatever they believe, is welcome. There is no room for discrimination," said. a spokesperson for the club about the decision to raise the flag.

Last month, the club distanced itself in strong terms from the hurtful expressions of the supporters. "As has often been stated, we reject any form of discrimination, exclusion, threats and intimidation, and therefore certainly these kinds of nauseating expressions. This has nothing to do with Feyenoord and who we are," the club said earlier in a response to the hurtful expressions.

Paul van Dorst, founder of the LGBTI supporters group Feyenoord Roze Kameraden, called the hanging of the rainbow flag by Feyenoord "a beautiful and powerful" signal. "The club is on the right track. In this way they say that they support the entire LGBTI community and show: we are here for you too."

Pink Saturday will take place in Rotterdam on Saturday. This national event, which takes place in a different city each year, focuses on the emancipation of the LGBTQ+ community. There is, among other things, an information market, concerts and a march through the city. Pink Saturday is also the kick-off of the Rotterdam Pride week.