Two arrested after homophobic attack outside London gay club The Two Brewers
Police were called at around 4.20am on Sunday, 12 February to reports of a homophobic assault on Clapham High Street. (AFP via Getty/Tolga Akmen)
A man and woman have been arrested after allegedly assaulting a gay couple outside gay club The Two Brewers on Clapham High Street, in south-west London.
The incident is being treated as a homophobic hate crime.
Police were called at around 4.20am on Sunday (12 February) and a 31-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of assault and affray and a 35-year-old woman has been arrested on suspicion of assault.
A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said: “We await an update on whether they have been charged, bailed, or released without further action.
“The victim did not require medical treatment. The assault is being treated as a hate crime.”
Victims ‘slapped’ for kissing
A bystander, who claims to have witnessed the incident outside the Two Brewers, posted on social media: “Two innocent gay men standing next to me were slapped by a woman for kissing.”
He says he intervened and was “knocked to the ground”, and had homophobic slurs shouted at him.
He went on to praise staff at the popular gay bar, writing: “Thankfully the excellent security & management at @2BrewersClapham intervened and the police were swift to arrest. I am more or less unscathed, barring an injured wrist.
“I thought I would share this because even in one of the most liberal queer-friendly cities like London, homophobia is still a daily occurrence.”
Police figures released last year show that reports of homophobic hate crimes more than doubled in five years, shooting up from 10,003 in 2016-17 to 26,824 in 2021-22.
More disturbingly, transphobic hate crimes swelled by 240 per cent, from 1,292 reports in 2016-17 to 4,399 five years later, in what is believed to be the largest increase ever seen by authorities.
In the report, London emerged as the epicentre of hate crimes based on sexual orientation. The Metropolitan Police Service tallied 3,794 incidents in 2021-22, an increase of 28 per cent on the previous year.
A different report, commissioned by the Vodafone Foundation, found that the majority of LGBTQ+ hate crime victims fail to report what had happened because they feel it’s “too minor” or they don’t trust the police.
PinkNews has contacted Met Police for further comment.
