LGBT groups set to protest homophobic attacks in Paris
Arnaud Gagnoud was recently attacked in Paris (Arnaud Gagnoud/Instagram)
LGBT rights groups will protest a series of homophobic attacks in Paris this weekend.
The demonstration will take place on Sunday at the Place de la Republique in the French capital.
The event was organised by the LGBT groups SOS Homophobia and Inter-LGBT, who are calling for “concrete” action to be taken to tackle the issue, such as a national awareness campaign about homophobia, transphobia and biphobia.
The groups are also calling for mandatory training on addressing discrimination for teachers, police and other officials.
On Tuesday, the president of LGBT charity Urgence Homophobie, Guillaume Melanie, was attacked near the Etienne Marcel Metro station in Paris’ 1st arrondissement.
“Tonight it is my turn,” Melanie wrote in a tweet with a photo of his bloodied face.
People kiss in front of the Eiffel Tower to protest homophobia (JACQUES DEMARTHON/AFP/Getty Images)
“A homophobic attack while leaving a restaurant, broken nose, shocked, blood everywhere. I am gay and we are in 2018.”
In an interview with BFM TV, Melanie said: “I was leaving the restaurant with friends, we were celebrating the fact that one of our refugees had been granted residency [in France] and as we were leaving, during the time we were saying goodbye we were getting in the way on the path. And a gentleman who must have seen that we were gay, wasn’t happy about it.
“He pushed one of our party to get past, he was told to go ‘gently’ and that’s when he started directing crazy homophobic insults at me.
“He called me a faggot (PD in French) and he gave me a big punch on the nose,” he said.
Other attacks have shocked the French capital in recent months.
Earlier this month, a gay couple were insulted and attacked for kissing on the street in the northeast of the city.
One of their two attackers was arrested and sentenced to a year’s imprisonment.
Last month, Arnaud Gagnoud, 27-year old actor, was beaten with a helmet after hugging his partner outside a theatre in eastern Paris’s 20th arrondissement.
