A gay couple were victims of a brutal homophobic assault during their vacation in Corsica, while a large crowd stood by and did nothing.
The two men, identified as Mickaël and Benoît, attended a club on the French island with Benoît’s brother, sister, and sister-in-law when the attack took place. After the couple danced together, a group of homophobes aged 15-20 confronted them and hurled anti-gay slurs.
According to French-language gay publication Têtu, one of the homophobes showed Mickaël a picture of “someone pissing on a rainbow flag.” Mickaël said: “I stay very calm and tell him that I am gay myself. At that moment he takes out his cross and tells me that it ‘is against nature.'”
When Mickaël and Benoît left the club for fresh air, the group followed them and launched their attack.
“That’s when things went nuts,” said Mickaël. “I had five punches before I got stuck between two cars with 10 guys on me. Luckily I didn’t pass out; who knows what might have happened… would I still be alive?”
A large crowd gathered to watch the assault, but did nothing to help them. Mickaël and Benoît claimed they were entertained by the violence, with the latter stating: “They brought out the popcorn.”
The attack didn’t come to an end until Benoît’s family alerted the police. The homophobia didn’t stop there, however, as the couple were harassed with anti-gay slurs, such as “queer”, when they were taken by the ambulance to the hospital.
They were treated for broken noses, bruising and bleeding. Both Mickaël and Benoît also received eight days of temporary work interruption (ITT) to recover.
The local prosecutor of Bastia said the attack is currently being investigated.
As quoted by France TV Info, the prosecutor said: “After watching the fireworks from the town, a group of five people, on holiday in Corsica, went to a Macinaggio Harbor bar to spend the evening there.
“Around 12:30 a.m., two of the members of this group, as a couple, suffered homophobic insults and then violence with kicks and punches from several individuals, causing them total interruptions of work of six and eight days. A third person was injured.”
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