GALICIA – On Monday, Spain took to the streets en masse to protest against homophobia. It follows the death of Samuel Luiz Muñiz, a 24-year-old homosexual nurse. Samuel was mistreated at a nightclub in A Coruña from Friday to Saturday night because of his sexuality.
Two days after the violent death of 24-year-old Samuel in Galicia, thousands of people in dozens of cities in Spain gathered to offer condolences to the victim’s relatives.
Spaniards seized this moment to make it clear homophobia must end. Thousands protested in Barcelona, Seville, Valencia, Palma, Bilbao and in many other cities in Galicia and throughout Spain. The protest also continued online via the hashtag #JusticiaparaSamuel.
https://twitter.com/hashtag/JusticeForSamuel?src=hashtag_click
What happened in A Coruna?
Samuel was facetiming with a friend outside the nightclub at around 3am on Saturday morning. He was then attacked by boys because they thought he was filming them. Just before he was beaten, a boy yelled, “Stop filming or I’ll kill you, faggot.”
Samuel’s friends tell the Spanish newspaper El Mundo that when he was beaten and kicked, he was continuously abused because of his sexuality. Samuel was treated by medical personnel fairly soon after the attack and was taken to hospital by ambulance. He later died there from his injuries. Various politicians expressed their support for the relatives on Twitter and spoke of a hate crime.
Spanish police ask for restraint in expletives
The police investigation into the young homosexual´s death is still far from advanced. According to the police, no official suspects have yet been arrested. However, around thirteen people have already been questioned. Official sources from the police therefore ask people to be cautious with these kinds of expletives.
Number of hate crimes in Spain still rising every year
The organisation of the demonstrations reports the Spanish LGBT+ community is often confronted with violence. Spanish news site El Confidencial writes 1,706 hate crimes were registered in Spain in 2019, mostly because of someone’s sexuality. The number continues to rise every year.
According to experts, this number is just the tip of the iceberg because many crimes go unreported. Samuel Luiz’s death comes less than a week after Spain passes its first LGBT+ legislation.
