“Justice for Samuel”: massive mobilizations in Spain to repudiate homophobic crime

This Monday afternoon thousands of Spaniards took to the streets of different cities across the country to demand justice for Samuel Luiz Muñiz, the 24-year-old who was brutally beaten by a group of subjects last Saturday, around three in the morning, in what has been described as a homophobic crime.

At Corunna, where the assault took place, Hundreds of people gathered in the rain in Plaza María Pita, in the town hall, including Samuel’s family and friends. After being silent for a few minutes, the demonstrators cheered and protested by shouting “Justice”.

Friends of the victim, visibly shakenThey wore Samuel T-shirts.

This Monday earlier, Maxsoud Luiz, father of the young man, had asked that in the demonstrations organized in the memory of his son, there should be “no type of flags or politicians”. “Let each person bring a package of rice, sugar or whatever and leave it in a box. Then we gave everything to the Red Cross, where he worked, to those who needed it most. Samuel would be happy with that. “

At Madrid, as, thousands of people filled the iconic Puerta del Sol, in the center of the Spanish capital, carrying flags of the LGBTQ community and, in some of them, black pancakes.

“He is not dead, they murdered him “, “You fascists are terrorists”, “They killed Samuel because he was queer”, were some of the expressions of the demonstrators who, After focusing on the Puerta del Sol, they made their way to the headquarters of the Ministry of Justice.

There were also mobilizations in other cities of the country, such as Barcelona, ​​Valencia, Salamanca, Badajoz, Lanzarote, Bilbao, Valencia and Zaragoza. They all developed in unison.

The protests took place after the organization Transfer LGBT + will meet for this Monday concentrations from 20:00 (local time) throughout Galicia.

On Saturday evening, a group of young people beat him until he was seriously injured. When they realized the poor condition they had left the victim in, they left him lying in the middle of the street and left the scene.

Although health officials tried to resuscitate him for about two hours, they were unable to save his life and he eventually died in hospital.

The event took place on the second evening of night life since the lifting of restrictions on Galicia. Relatives and friends of the victim launched a strong social media campaign with the label #JusticeForSamuel, from which they ask for information on the facts and defend that the young “He is not dead, they murdered him”, while explaining that it is an event homophobic aggression.

According to some versions, the event occurred when Samuel was at the entrance to a nightclub using his cell phone. One of the friends who accompanied him assures us that he was making a video call.

Apparently, this fact created confusion among the group of attackers, who were also there, as, according to witnesses, the young people alleged that Samuel was recording their whereabouts, especially the girls accompanying them, which for the discomfort, then one of them berated him and hit him. Later, the other men in the group joined in, who, between punches and kicks, ended up seriously injuring the 24-year-old boy.

Witnesses say they were there seven subjects those who beat Samuel, preventing him even from having a chance to defend himself. Likewise, it was revealed that as they attacked him, they were shouting at him “fagot“, For what they do not doubt that the aggression is linked to a fact of homophobia.

Spanish police informed the agency EFE What They found at least 13 people arrested for their alleged involvement in the events.

“I hope the @police investigation will soon find the perpetrators of Samuel’s murder and shed light on the facts. It was a savage and ruthless act. We will not take a step back on rights and freedoms. Spain will not tolerate it, ”the Prime Minister tweeted on Monday evening, Pedro Sanchez.

In the last hours, Samuel’s father published a moving letter after the murder of his son: “Hello, I am Samuel’s father, first of all I would like to thank the excellent work of the 061 teams for all the efforts made regarding the rapid care of our son”.

“They took away the only light that illuminated our life. We know we’re going to have a very long way to go. We will be supported by our family, friends and colleagues who will help us get out of this dark path, ”he wrote.

In this sense, he thanked the authorities of “our wonderful city, La Coruña. Thank you with all my heart. May God reward all the love you give us. A big hug to all of you and we hope that another dark day like the one we are living will never happen again ”.

“No to violence”, closed the father.

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