On Friday, people attending the concert of international rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers in Egypt were in for quite a homophobic welcome.
A number of concertgoers who attended the event, which was held outside the country's Pyramid of Giza, said Egyptian officials asked them if they were carrying LGBTIQ+ rainbow flags before allowing them into the venue.
In a tweet he posted about the incident, Egypt-based journalist Eduard Cousin wrote:
"Officer at entrance of #redhotchilipeppers concert asks if we have any flags with us: 'With the colors, for the gays, not allowed!"
Another tweep, Samer Al-Atrush, also uploaded a similar encounter with security personnel at the concert, adding that top security officials were at the venue. Some also stated that guards confiscated their children's crayons because they were worried people would draw rainbow flags after entering.
The crackdown on LGBTIQ+ flags at the concert comes just two years after a number of individuals were arrested for raising a rainbow flag during a Mashrou' Leila concert in Cairo.
At the time, they were detained under charges of "promoting sexual deviancy" and "inciting immorality."
Days after the incident, the country's Musicians syndicate also said it will ban the band - whose lead singer Hamed Sinno is openly gay - from performing in the country again.
The situation escalated into what human rights organizations described as a full-fledged LGBTIQ+ crackdown. According to Amnesty, some arrestees were subjected to forced anal examinations to determine whether they have had gay sex.
People are now reacting to the latest crackdown on rainbow flags, and many are dismayed at the way concertgoers were treated outside the Red Hot Chile Peppers concert.
"Egypt 2019"
"It seems that security priorities are a bit mixed up"
Many couldn't but point out this irony
Others raised this important point
Egypt has long been cracking down on its LGBTIQ+ community
In the past few years, Egypt has been cracking down on freedoms and activists in general. Long before that, officials would particularly target members of the LGBTIQ+ community in their arrest campaigns and it hasn't stopped.
Other than targeting concertgoers and banning rainbow flags in public events, the country also regularly arrests and jails people suspected of being gay. While homosexuality is not illegal in Egypt, police detains these individuals using decades-old prostitution and debauchery laws.
Earlier this month, local authorities arrested an Egyptian transgender woman, 19-year-old Malak al-Kashef, for taking part in anti-government protests, placing her in a men's prison.
A week before that, another trans individual, Hossam Ahmed, was jailed because he also took part in anti-regime riots. He was detained in a women's prison and denied hormone therapy.