A young man from 20 years he was walking this Sunday night towards his home in the center of Madrid, the Spanish capital, when he was assaulted by eight hooded people.
In addition to hitting him, calling him “ disgusting ”and“ shit eater ”, finally they lowered his pants and marked the word“ fag ”on his buttocks with a knife .
The The information, which was released this Monday by the local news portal Eldiario.es and confirmed by the police to BBC Mundo, was qualified by several authorities of the government as a homophobic attack.
According to the local police, after receiving the complaint, a investigation to identify the perpetrators of the attack, for which the security cameras of the sector are being reviewed.
I also know took a statement from the victim of the attack, that he narrated that when he was about to enter the portal of his house, located in the Madrid neighborhood of Malasaña, around 17: 00 local time was intercepted by the group of people who were hooded and wearing black sweatshirts .
After insulting him and cutting his lip, they proceeded to mark his buttocks.
However, according to the National Police, “no it is confirmed “that it is a hate crime.
” So far we do not know the reasons why this attack occurred , so we cannot confirm that it is a hate crime “, a spokeswoman for the Higher Headquarters told BBC Mundo Madrid of the National Police.
“But it is part of the lines of investigation that we are taking into account to determine the facts,” he added.
Rejection
The attack in Madrid is part of a phenomenon that, according to several organizations, has been increasing in recent years in Spain.
On July 6, the death of the young Samuel Luiz in La Coruña (Galicia, northern Spain) after receiving a beating by 12 men, was denounced as a hate crime against the LGBTIQ + community.
In addition, according to the report “Evolution of hate crimes in Spain” from the Ministry of the Interior, complaints of LGBTI-phobic attacks increased from 169 on 2016 to 278 on 2019.
And several organizations defending LGBTIQ + rights have denounced that During the second year of the pandemic, crimes against those who are part of this community have increased considerably.
C omo It is pointed out by the portal France 24 , in Barcelona there were registered in the first semester of 2021 levels of violence against the LGBTQI + collective similar to those of 2019, according to the numbers provided by the Observatory against Homophobia.
This group indicated that there were 103 facts related to “LGTBI-phobia” since January 1, 2021 until the beginning of June.
For his part, the president of the Spanish government, Pedro Sánchez, condemned the attack suffered by the young man from 20 years in Madrid.
“In our society there is no place for hatred. My emphatic condemnation of this homophobic attack. We will not allow it. We will continue working for an open and diverse country, where no one is afraid of being who they are, where we all live free and safe. My affection for the attacked young man, “he wrote this Monday on his Twitter account.
The Minister of Equality of Spain , Irene Montero, also stated their rejection.
“ We cannot tolerate as a society that they murder you at the cry of ‘fagot’ or that they put you in a portal to beat you up for your sexual orientation “, he said in statements to the local press.
” We do not allow speeches LGTBI-phobic and against women’s rights. All our love for the attacked young man. ”
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