The Mossos d’Esquadra have arrested two men for an alleged homophobic assault on three people during the early hours of August 12 at the exit of a nightclub in Salt (Girona).
The detainees are 20 and 24 years old and are residents of the town and of Girona. One of them was arrested on August 15 and the second suspect in the early hours of this Thursday. The events happened around half past six in the morning, when a group of people were leaving a party that the Espai LGTBI Girona had organized in the Mirona concert hall. While they were talking outside the premises, two young men began to rebuke them with bland homophobes and physically assaulted three LGTBI activists there.
One of the victims was punched and lost consciousness for a few moments. Before that, some of the party organizers and other activists called 112. An ambulance treated the three victims at the scene and then transferred them to the Santa Caterina hospital in Salt.
On the other hand, the Mossos d’Esquadra also went outside La Mirona to talk to the witnesses and find out what had happened. The Catalan police opened an investigation and the victims formalized the complaint the same day in the afternoon. On the afternoon of this Thursday, the arrest of the two alleged perpetrators of the homophobic attack was reported.
This Wednesday afternoon, some 300 people gathered in front of the Salt City Hall to condemn the attack. The act included the speeches of the accidental mayors of Girona and Salt, Gemma Geis and Àlex Barceló, as well as several councilors from the two consistories. In addition, the spokespersons for the Observatori Contra l’Homofòbia (OCH) and the LGTBI space of Girona read a manifesto condemning the events. The act ended with “a minute of a lot of noise” that the organizers wanted to replace with a minute of silence to make it clear that they will not be able to silence them.
The Observatori Contra l’Homofòbia denounced the attack on Saturday, and explained the attack as “LGBTIphobic in nature” and physically attacked the three victims, who were treated at the hospital in the Girona town.
“It is very important to break with impunity. We continue to work giving attention and support to the victims. Hate must be faced,” the OCH lamented in another post on Twitter.
