Thousands pack Doha streets to welcome Qatar emir home
Thousands pack Doha streets to welcome Qatar emir home
Qatar's Emir Tamim al-Thani returned home from the UN General Assembly on Sunday evening, where he was received by thousands of his countrymen and expatriates who lined Doha's streets.
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Qataris welcomed Emir Tamim home after a week away [AFP]
Thousands packed Doha's streets on Sunday to welcome home Qatar's Emir Tamim al-Thani after visits to Europe and the UN General Assembly.
The emir was greeted at the airport by a large entourage before being escorted through Doha where he was met by large crowds waving Qatari flags.
Sheikh Tamim's return came after diplomatic missions to the UN headquarter in New York and Chancellor Angela Merkel in Germany to shore up support for Qatar due to an ongoing blockade of the emirate by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt.
Hostile Saudi, UAE and Egyptian media had questioned the emir's week-long stay outside the country and Cairo-based Youm7 tried to falsely claim the crowds in Doha greeting the emir were "demonstrations".
The facts were very different. One Qatari described "half of Doha" on the streets to welcome the emir and a statement to the blockading coalition that the emirate will not surrender to their demands.
"Publicly, seeing the images today will push them [the blockading countries] to think twice about this particular issue," Sultan Barakat, director from the Doha Institute told Al-Jazeera.
"It's been about 110 days or so and there hasn't been any feeling of split in the society and it seems to me that everyone is very much united behind the emir."
A clearly exuberant Sheikh Tamim spoke with some in the crowd lining Doha's corniche waterfront.
Sheikh Tamim addressed the UN General Assembly last week, telling world leaders that the Saudi-led coalition's "unjust blockade" was aimed at taking sovereignty away from Qatar.
He said accusations by the quartet that Qatar supports "terrorism" were categorically false.
"The countries who imposed the blockade on the state of Qatar interfere in the internal affairs of many countries and accuse all those who oppose them - domestically and abroad - with terrorism. By doing they are inflicting damage on the war on terror," he told the assembly.
Sheikh Tamim also said he was open to dialogue with the blockading nations but "without preconditions" and Qatar would not surrender its sovereign rights.
The Saudi-led coalition launched a diplomatic and economic blockade on Qatar in June blocking access to the emirate by land and air.
Since then, Qatar has found other trading partners including Turkey and Oman.
The emir was greeted at the airport by a large entourage before being escorted through Doha where he was met by large crowds waving Qatari flags.
Sheikh Tamim's return came after diplomatic missions to the UN headquarter in New York and Chancellor Angela Merkel in Germany to shore up support for Qatar due to an ongoing blockade of the emirate by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt.
Hostile Saudi, UAE and Egyptian media had questioned the emir's week-long stay outside the country and Cairo-based Youm7 tried to falsely claim the crowds in Doha greeting the emir were "demonstrations".
The facts were very different. One Qatari described "half of Doha" on the streets to welcome the emir and a statement to the blockading coalition that the emirate will not surrender to their demands.
"Publicly, seeing the images today will push them [the blockading countries] to think twice about this particular issue," Sultan Barakat, director from the Doha Institute told Al-Jazeera.
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"It's been about 110 days or so and there hasn't been any feeling of split in the society and it seems to me that everyone is very much united behind the emir."
A clearly exuberant Sheikh Tamim spoke with some in the crowd lining Doha's corniche waterfront.
Sheikh Tamim addressed the UN General Assembly last week, telling world leaders that the Saudi-led coalition's "unjust blockade" was aimed at taking sovereignty away from Qatar.
He said accusations by the quartet that Qatar supports "terrorism" were categorically false.
"The countries who imposed the blockade on the state of Qatar interfere in the internal affairs of many countries and accuse all those who oppose them - domestically and abroad - with terrorism. By doing they are inflicting damage on the war on terror," he told the assembly.
Sheikh Tamim also said he was open to dialogue with the blockading nations but "without preconditions" and Qatar would not surrender its sovereign rights.
The Saudi-led coalition launched a diplomatic and economic blockade on Qatar in June blocking access to the emirate by land and air.
Since then, Qatar has found other trading partners including Turkey and Oman.
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