When Germany take on Japan in Qatar next week, the projection screens at Berlin’s Fargo football bar will be in their unusual rolled-up position.

The bar, which adapts its regular opening times to the football schedule, only opens its doors one hour after the end of the game.

“We do not agree that the World Cup should take place in a country that is obviously about sportswear and that the country should look different internationally than it actually is,” Fargo spokesman Joschik Pech told the AFP news agency.

“We wouldn’t feel comfortable watching the games if we knew (it’s a place) where[a person’s]sexuality can’t be freely expressed,” he said.

Fargo is one of dozens of bars across Germany, including several in the capital Berlin, that have pledged to boycott what is usually a flagship event in the football-loving nation.

Qatar’s treatment of migrant workers, women and the LGBTQ community has come under the spotlight as it prepares to host the tournament. Qatar has angrily repelled most of the attacks.

The main organizer of the World Cup said the attacks on the Gulf state were launched because it “competed on an equal footing and snatched the World Cup from competing bidders”.

Several other venues, including Berlin’s famous “Fan Mile” set against the backdrop of the Brandenburg Gate, have officially canceled public viewing events over concerns about the weather, energy costs and the risk of Covid infections.

Members of Germany’s activist football fan culture have been particularly outspoken about the event, with supporters from several high-profile clubs including Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Union Berlin and St Pauli calling for boycotts.

In order not to simply ignore the month-long tournament, Fargo will hold several events parallel to the World Cup games, including human rights lectures and group tours to amateur and women’s soccer games.

“We expect there will be a drop in sales and of course a loss of profits, but we don’t think it will be so bad that the pub goes bankrupt,” Pech said.

“We’re also trying to get people into the bar with our alternative programming, which I think will attract some people.”

Fargo’s decision is not unpopular with customers. Sebastian, 24, a self-proclaimed “active football fan,” told AFP he supports the boycott and will do the same.

“I’d love to see it, but I won’t,” he added, “up to this point I’ve watched every World Cup played in my life.”

“When people freeze in their own homes because of the energy policy situation here in Germany and watch a tournament that is being played in artificially cooled stadiums, that’s not acceptable.”

Another Fargo customer, Stella, told AFP she would also be boycotting the event for the first time, hoping fan sentiment would force people to think more critically about the World Cup hosts.

“I find it a bit difficult that this is the first year that people are realizing the problems…People should have realized much earlier that there is a need to boycott certain places and certain World Cups.”

However, the 22-year-old said she has fond memories of previous World Cups and knows she might be tempted to change her mind.

“I can imagine if Germany somehow makes it to the final and my friends call me and say, ‘Hey Stella, we’re going to watch it’, it would be hard for me to say no because it’s pretty cool to watch it with your friends.

“But I don’t expect us to play well at all – so I don’t think it will be a problem,” she said, laughing.

Some bars, like Berlin’s Tante Käthe, have decided to show the games, but want to use the increased attention generated by the tournament to expose human rights violations, for example by putting up a photo exhibition showing the poor living conditions of Nepalese guest workers who helped build the stadiums from Qatar.

Others have agreed to screen the event.

Around the corner from Fargo, Salama El-Khatib, the owner and manager of Salama’s Bar of the same name, said “every person can decide for themselves” whether they want to watch.

“I will show all the games, from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., without exception,” El-Khatib told AFP.

El-Khatib, who came to Berlin from the Middle East to study in the 1980s before opening his bar in 1996, said “human rights issues (in Qatar) are often discussed” by him and his clients, but he had no concerns made a boycott about it.

Salama said “five or six regulars” would skip the event, “but other guests will be here.”

“I think the discussion (is taking place) too late – we had to have it four years ago. Discussing the boycott two weeks before (the event) is pointless – we had to run it a long time ago.”