Lesbian couple attacked during Pride Amsterdam

A lesbian couple was beaten up by two men on a scooter in Amsterdam city center early on Saturday morning. They were walking hand-in-hand on Zandstraat, a narrow alley near Zuiderkerk, at around 5:00 a.m. after a night out when they were attacked, Het Parool reports.

"Oh, you are so hot, can we join you?" one of the attackers shouted at 29-year-old Katya Sazanova and her girlfriend Ana Camboim. They told the men to go away, and the men decided to assault them, they said to the newspaper. Camboim was it in her face and fell to the floor. Sazanova also got a blow to the face. The women walked away from the attack with bruises, a broken lip and a swollen nose. 

The couple, both working expats in Amsterdam, called the attack traumatic. "It was so frightening. At home we only cried. People sometimes look up when we hold hands, but people have never been physical", Sazanova said to the newspaper. "My girlfriend is from Brazil and I from Kazakhstan. We might expect something like this in our own countries, but not in Amsterdam. And then it also happened during Pride." 

The women reported the assault to the police. According to Sazanova, the police told them that there is little chance that they will catch the perpetrators. "It was dark, they had a black scooter and we did not take down the license plate. We really did not think to do so at the time", she said. "People sometimes ask: why do you celebrate Pride? Why is it necessary to talk about this. This is why. What happened to us can happen to any couple. It is still happening. Also in Amsterdam."