Multiple homophobic attack on Barcelona beach

BarcelonaTwo gay male couples suffered a homophobic attack on Saturday night on the beach of Somorrostro in Barcelona. The multiple aggression was around 10 p.m. and the Mossos d'Esquadra have already opened an investigation after receiving the complaint, but have not yet found those responsible for the attack and have not been able to make arrests. As advanced by the digital magazine Tot Barcelona, the victims were talking quietly with other friends on the beach when a group of "very violent" young men burst in, spat at them, insulted them with phrases such as "fucking faggots" and threatened them.

The attackers, who have described them as being in their 30s, began punching and kicking the two couples. One of the victims suffered serious injuries, with several bruises and a broken jaw. He had to undergo surgery after losing almost all his teeth. The other three men suffered contusions.

The president of the Observatori Contra l'Homofòbia (OCH), Eugeni Rodríguez, explained that this beating was not the only homophobic aggression of the weekend in Barcelona, because on Saturday morning a young gay man reported minor hand injuries from a kick in the neighbourhood of Gràcia and at night, at 21.00 h, near the Auditori another young gay man was insulted and physically assaulted. "It is a homophobic spiral to which we are not used to", warned Rodriguez in statements to the ACN.

"Absolute impunity"

Faced with the three aggressions, Rodriguez has lamented that the perpetrators "have acted with absolute impunity". "We demand maximum forcefulness to all administrations. I am absolutely terrified", he said, while condemning this "extreme" violence in which we see a "very dangerous succession of LGTBI-phobia". Finally, Rodriguez warned of the fear felt by the collective after more than seventy homophobic incidents have been recorded in Catalonia this year.