Gay man has homophobic slur carved into his buttocks during horrific attack by eight men in Madrid – two months after another gay man was beaten to death in Spain
- Victim, 20, had ‘maricon’ – the Spanish equal of ‘fa***t’ – scored into his buttocks
- Eight masked assailants attacked the man outside his apartment block in Madrid
- Sunday’s attack comes two months after another gay man was beaten to death
A gay man had a homophobic slur carved into his buttocks during a horrific attack by eight masked assailants in Madrid on Sunday.
It comes two months after another gay man was beaten to death in Spain in a suspected homophobic attack.
Sunday’s victim, 20, was attacked at the entrance to his apartment building in the Malasana district.
The assailants cut his lower lip with a knife and then scored the word ‘maricón’ into his buttocks – the Spanish equivalent of ‘fa***t’.
The savage nature of the attack has shocked Spain, a country with a very open approach to sexuality where a recent YouGov survey showed 91 per cent of people would be supportive if a family member came out as lesbian, gay or bisexual.
People march through Madrid with rainbow flags to celebrate LGBTQIA+ pride in July 2016
Police were investigating the incident and collecting ‘as much evidence as possible from security cameras and witnesses’, the spokeswoman said.
‘Police are looking to arrest and identify these people and clarify whether it was really a homophobic attack or hate crime.’
The attack drew a sharp rebuke from the government of Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, with spokeswoman Isabel Rodriguez voicing ‘utmost condemnation’ of the violence after Tuesday’s weekly cabinet meeting.
Sanchez also called an urgent meeting of the hate crimes committee for Friday.
‘Hate crimes require the strongest social and political reproach,’ she said, pledging the government would use ‘every legal instrument available’ to combat such attitudes and ‘discourse that promotes hatred’.
Sanchez had tweeted his own condemnation on Monday, saying there was ‘no place for hatred’ within Spanish society and pledging to work for ‘an open and diverse country, where no one is afraid to be who they are’.
Rights groups immediately lashed out, calling several protests, one of which will take place on Wednesday evening in Puerta del Sol square, with a second, headlined ‘They’re killing us’, at the same location on Saturday.
Activists say attacks on LGBTQ people are increasing in Spain. They claim that official statistics capture only a fraction of the problem because many incidents are not reported (file photo)
Activists say attacks on LGBTQ people are increasing in Spain. They claim that official statistics capture only a fraction of the problem because many incidents are not reported.
The attack came two months after Samuel Luiz, 24, was beaten to death near a nightclub in the northern city of Coruna in an attack friends of the victims claimed was motivated by homophobia.
The attack was denounced by Sanchez as ‘savage and merciless’ which brought huge crowds onto the streets in protest.
Police are investigating Sunday’s attack but have not yet made any arrests.