Gay couple assaulted on Amsterdam street; Police looking for witnesses

A gay couple was insulted, spat on, physically attacked, and discriminated against in broad daylight on an Amsterdam street last month. The police are looking for witnesses.

A man and his non-binary partner were walking on Haarlemmerstraat at 3:30 p.m. on Sunday, September 8, toward Haarlemmerdijk. At the intersection with Herenmarkt, a man grabbed one of them by the shoulder. He started shouting questions, curses, threats, and insults at them, specifically targeting their sexual orientation and gender identity, the police said.

The couple tried to get away from the suspect and asked the man to leave them alone. Instead, the man spat on the back of one victim’s head and kicked the other victim multiple times in the leg and ankle.

The couple eventually got away from their attacker by fleeing into a nearby café. “The incident has had a significant impact,” the police said. “They have not felt safe on the street since then.”

The police are trying to identify the perpetrator and ask for any witnesses to come forward.

“In the Netherlands, you are allowed to be who you are and love who you want. Nevertheless, incidents related to sexual orientation or gender identity occur every day,” the police said.

Last week, a gay-friendly sex shop in Rotterdam had to implement a locked-door policy after facing daily harassment by a group of young people. Earlier last month, the police arrested a vlogger for making homophobic comments to another passenger on a tram in The Hague and then posting the footage online. In August, locals reported that an incident of arson at an apartment in Breda was due to the rainbow flag the reisdent hang on their baclony.

“We take these types of cases very seriously. If it turns out that discrimination played a role in an incident, it will be included as an aggravating circumstance,” the police said.

There have been concerns about tolerance in the Netherlands for some time. In Amsterdam’s annual youth monitor survey last year, only 43 percent of Amsterdam young people said they believed that people of the same sex can be in love with each other.