“New Age Rainbow” Association (NAR) demands from Belgrade police immediate identification and arrest of the hooligans who have assaulted and beaten up the manager of NAR association and “Dečko” magazine Abdel-Latif Hamad.
Abdel-Latif Hamad and three of his friends were attacked on Sunday 11th of July 2004. around 3:30AM on the corner of Zmaj Jovina street and Obilićev Venac, returning from a gay party which took place in elite Belgrade “Lotos bar” club. According to Abdel-Latif, who was the one most severely beaten, he and his friends came out of the club and headed down Zmaj Jovina Street. They were suddenly attacked from behind by at least four hooligans about a hundred meters from the club entrance. The hooligans were hitting them with bats or clubs shouting: “You want a party, Fags, well here’s a party for you!” They attacked all of them, but Abdel-Latif took the hardest beating. Some of the hooligans were kicking him, while at least two of them were hitting him with bats. His left forearm was seriously cut with an unknown sharp object. Abdel-Latif says the attack lasted about one minute, after that the attackers ran away. One of the attackers is assumed to have been in the club during the party and before the assault.
During the beating one of the victims made it to the club entrance to ask for help, but he was mocked with a remark that there was no security for the party. After the attackers ran away, a few people passed by. They called the ambulance, which arrived shortly and took him to the ER where his injuries were attended. Latif emphasizes that he couldn’t call the ambulance himself because with his right hand he tried to slow down the bleeding from his other arm. The Police came in the morning. They took Latif’s official statement, and started a case against Unknown Attackers for severe body injuries. One of the inspectors stated that the “molesting season in Belgrade has begun”.
Many guests left the club before Latif and his friends did; yet the assault took place only some hundred meters from the bar. There was no security in the vicinity, and the party organizers have confirmed that the party wasn’t registered with the police as it usually with gay parties. Latif claims that club staff was unpleasant and even hostile with guests, especially when he started giving away free copies of the “Dečko” gay magazine. He also said that he and his friends went out of the club together and were on their way to the Belgrade Bus Station. The attackers didn’t go after those guests who were returning to their homes alone, but after the four of them. Latif says that the hooligans were about the age of twenty and that he couldn’t recognize them, except maybe the one he thinks he saw inside the club. The attackers gave Latif the following severe body injuries: broken tooth and nose, on his left forearm there is a cut of about 7-8 cm long, his lower lip is cut and there are swellings under his eyes. NAR reminds that this is a felony for which the act 53, paragraph 1 of the Criminal Law punishable by prison sentence in duration between six months and five years.
We consider the lack of reaction to the often attacks of minorities and those who support the minorities to be silent support to the extremist groups. We are outraged because there is no reaction or condemnation from the official organs of the physical violence, or any other violence on any ground, or condemnation of the groups calling for lynch. It is obvious that the attackers chose for their targets those distributing the gay magazine, and thus making their attitude clearly known, regardless of their sexual orientation. We emphasize that NAR association and “Dečko” magazine have professional associates of all sexual orientations. We demand from the official organs to clearly condemn the assaults on the minority groups, and to prevent all institutions, organizations and other groups that call for violence over minorities.
NAR association president,
Atila Kovač