Football supporters attacked volunteers at LGBTQ+ organization's Eindhoven office

About 20 people attacked a COC building in Eindhoven on Saturday evening. The perpetrators beat up a volunteer for the LGBTQIA+ interest group and pulled down and tried to set fire to a rainbow flag that was hanging on the facade. They also shouted homophobic slurs, like “kankerhomo,” which translates to “cancer gay.” According to COC, the perpetrators were football supporters who attended the match between PSV and Excelsior.

The incident happened around 7:00 p.m., an hour before the PSV match started, said chairman Benjamin Ector of COC Eindhoven and region. At that time, there was a youth meeting in the COC building on Prins Hendrikstraat. According to Ector, between 10 and 15 minors saw the group intimidatingly walk past the building, pull the flag off the wall and abuse it. When a volunteer confronted the group, he received a blow to the head.

According to the chairman, the incident did not last long. COC reported it to the police and the anti-racism agency RADAR on Sunday. “Fortunately, the volunteer who was beaten up is doing well under the circumstances. But the children are scared,” said Ector. “What started as a normal and pleasant meeting turned into a real hell.”

According to Ector, the damage to the building is not too bad. The flag pole is broken, and the flag is missing. The perpetrators took it with them.

The COC Eindhoven and region invited the municipality of Eindhoven, the KNVB, and PSV to discuss safety around football matches and to end the anti-gay chants.

A police spokesperson could not confirm the story. The municipality was also not aware of it on Sunday.

Since this week, violence by football supporters has been under a magnifying glass again. On Wednesday, a Feyenoord supporter threw a lighter at Ajax player Davy Klaasen’s head during the Klassieker in De Kuip. Things also went wrong in Eindhoven on Friday. Forty PEC Zwolle supporters pelted the police with stones and street furniture after an away match against FC Eindhoven. They also assaulted young people who were playing football on a nearby hockey field.