Protests in Spain against suspected LGBT hate crime
Waving the rainbow flag, thousands of protesters spilled onto the streets of several cities across Spain on Monday angry over the death of man in what was suspected to be a homophobic attack.
A 24-year-old nursing assistant was beaten near a nightclub during the early hours of Saturday morning in the northern port town of A Coruna.
Local news reported that the attacker was heard shouting homophobic slurs at the man, who later died in hospital.
Redan Evado joined the protests in Barcelona.
"The country still does not really accept that there are many ways to love and different ways to love. It cannot be possible that because a person decides to live his life loving a person of the same gender, or loving whoever, he ends up losing his life."
A local government representative tweeted that police were investigating and local media quoted him saying the investigation would show whether or not the attack was motivated by homophobia.
In 2019 alone, 278 hate crimes related to sexual orientation or gender identity were reported in Spain, an increase from the year before.
Rights groups have warned that the crimes are still underreported.
