ARCHIVED - Violence erupts at demonstrations after homophobic murder in A Coruña discotheque

Police charge to break up marchers after a largely peaceful protest event in Madrid

Violence broke out on Monday at various mass demonstrations held all over Spain in order to demand justice following an incident at the weekend in which a young gay man was the victim of a homophobic murder by a group of attackers at a discotheque in A Coruña (Galicia).

24-year-old Samuel Luiz died in the early hours of Saturday morning from injuries sustained while being kicked on the ground by a group of young men, after a minor quarrel escalated into full-blown murder following a trivial misunderstanding. It appears that one of Samuel’s female companions was making a video call but the attackers believed she was recording footage of them, and the victim stepped in as he tried to explain, only to become the object of their aggression.

He died in an ambulance a couple of hours later.

13 people were arrested shortly after the killing, and outrage at the violence of the attack – which was captured on security cameras inside the venue – soon went viral on social networks under the hashtag #JusticiaParaSamuel, even before the police were willing to confirm that this was indeed an incident of homophobic violence. In consequence, demonstrations were held in many major cities on Monday and in Madrid, although the event proceeded peacefully for the most part, as the evening went on the police charged demonstrators and made at least one arrest.

Critics have described the response of the police as “disproportionate” despite the widespread reports of “tension” between the forces of law and order and the demonstrators, some of whom vandalized street furniture as they marched through the streets of the capital.