Woman yelled anti-gay slurs and threatened people at LGBTQ rally in Amsterdam

A protest against anti-LGBTQ+ violence in Amsterdam on Thursday evening ended in conflict when a woman shouted anti-gay slurs at the protesters on Mercatorplein. The 40-year-old also allegedly threatened the activists and was taken into police custody that night.

Several protesters reported the woman to the police, AD and AT5 report. One witness told AT5 that she had a physical scrap with participants after throwing her bicycle at them. She was arrested soon after, according to the broadcaster. A police spokesperson confirmed to AD that there was an incident involving threats and insults and said that the police are investigating.

On Twitter, protesters reported that the woman called them "kankerhomo's", a slur translating to "cancer gays." Using a disease as part of a curse word can be particularly offensive in Dutch. Additionally, she allegedly hurled other swears at the marchers and spat at them.

About a thousand people attended the protest against anti-LGBTQ+ violence. The protest was triggered by a fire in a student apartment building last week Friday. The police said that arsonists seemed to target rainbow flags in the building.