An activist was attacked on the day of LGBT people protection from violence demonstration in Kyiv
Photo: Yelizaveta Sokurenko
On June 5, after a demonstration to support Draft Law 5488, unknown individuals attacked the activist and his friend out of hatred (lookism, transphobia (the attackers decided the boys were trans), and homophobia (they used rhetoric).
One of the victims, Ilyess El Kortbi, an activist of the Fridays For Future international climate movement, informed about it, ZMINA reports.
According to the young man, in the evening he and a friend were lounging in the "Sofra" cafe on the summer terrace after participating in a rally to support the draft law on combating hate crimes against LGBT people.
Three unknown young men approached them at the venue. The latter started shouting obscene homophobic insults at the victims and threatening them with physical violence because of their appearance.
"We were asked what we were doing here, why my friend had a non-standard hair color, I was asked why I supported LGBT people, they said they weren't human," said El Kortbi. He also said that the attackers were dressed in a black "tactical uniform without identification, which he saw at the representatives of right-wing radical groups."
"They spilled coffee on us, threw a bottle of milk in my face, and sprayed me with tear gas. In self-defense, I also took out a pepper gun. Then the attackers surrounded me. I detained them so that my friend could run away, and I eventually ran inside the cafe," the activist told.
Cafe employees tried to throw him away. The victim asked them to call security and police, but they refused because they "didn't want problems."
The young man said that later a security guard from a nearby market entered the facility and also tried to push the victim out of the room.
"The assailants also went into the cafe. They shouted at the guards that I had started it all. Then they started beating me on the head and back, continuing to insult me. But there were witnesses in the cafe who sided with me, they called the police," El Kortbi said.
At this time, his official security arrived at the cafe. However, the attackers fled.
Three police crews arrived at the scene, El Kortbi notes. However, patrol officers began to ask him if he was intoxicated with alcohol or drugs.
"I said where I work, after which the police took what I was saying more seriously. I was taken to the department where I wrote the statement," the activist said.
He added that he hadn't been referred for a forensic examination. However, the next day after the attack, the victim felt worse, and was taken to hospital:
"They say I have a concussion," El Kortbi said.
To recap, on June 5, near the President's Office, about two hundred people demanded the adoption of Draft Law 485488, which, in particular, provides for the fight against hate crimes against LGBT people.
