Spaniards Protest Hate Crime Amid Twist In High-profile Case

MADRID: Protests in Spain to denounce a rise in hate crimes against LGBTQ people went ahead on Wednesday after a high-profile case that had grabbed attention across the country took an unexpected twist.

Thousands gathered in Madrid and Barcelona three days after a young man told police that he had been brutally assaulted by a group of hooded assailants in the Spanish capital. He said that his unidentified aggressors used a knife to slash his lip and carve a homophobic slur into one of his buttocks.

On Wednesday, however, the Interior Ministry said that the young man had amended his statement to investigators to say that he had consented to the wounds.

The police investigation remained open.

Despite the turn in the case, the protests went ahead as planned. Organizers called the protests necessary to denounce the overall rise in reported cases of hate crimes as reflected in official statistics.

One of the groups organizing the protest in the capital, Movimiento Marika Madrid, said that the change of the young mans story did not take anything away from their cause.

Because we have also seen in recent days attacks in Toledo, in Melilla, in Castelln and in Vitoria, the group said on social media. Our lives are at stake.

In July, the death of a 24-year-old man in an attack prompted widespread condemnation after friends of the victim claimed he was targeted and beaten to death for being gay. There has also been a steady trickle of victims of hate crimes speaking out in recent weeks.

Hate crimes, including those against LGBTQ people, increased 9% in the first six months of the year compared to 2019, the year before the pandemic confinement and curfews, according to Spains interior ministry.

Activist groups claim that official statistics capture only a fraction of the problem because many incidents arent reported.

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