Glenn Wickman
WITH Spain still reeling from the homophobic murder of 24-year-old Samuel in La Coruña (Galicia) on Friday, attacks against LGTBIQ+ people continue throughout the country.
The day after Samuel was beaten to death in Galicia, on Saturday another young man was assaulted in Valencia city’s Plaza Honduras.
According to Orienta, the Valencian service providing support for LGTBIQ+ people in the region, the unidentified victim was out with a friend when they were accosted by a group of men who made homophobic insults against the victim.
The attackers then physically assaulted the young man, leaving him with considerable injuries before fleeing the scene.
Orienta’s lawyers are meeting the victim today (Wednesday July 7) to outline the legal procedure to report the case, which the association does not hesitate to class as a homophobic hate crime due also to the type of insults received by the young man.
The same Plaza Honduras was already the scene of a nearly identical attack two weeks ago, when a 17-year-old gay man was walking hand-in-hand with a friend when he was verbally abused and knocked to the ground by a group of men.
In this case, the attackers continued kicking the victim on the floor until leaving him with a split eyebrow and a bloodied face.
This week’s attack has coincided with large Gay Pride marches throughout the country and mass demonstrations against Samuel’s murder, with LGTBIQ+ associations denouncing a recent spike of up to 45% in homophobic crime in Spain.
Hundreds gathered in Valencia’s Plaza del Ayuntamiento on Monday to demand ‘Justice for Samuel’, while spokespeople for Spanish support platforms denounce that the violence is being fuelled by hate speech and political decisions made mainly by extreme right-wing party Vox on a national level.
READ MORE:
- Protests across Spain call for justice for Samuel Luiz Muñiz, murdered for being gay
- Samuel Luiz Muñiz: Three men arrested over murder of young gay man in northwestern Spain
