A lesbian couple were beaten by a group of men who accused them of making crude remarks about their sexuality while celebrating their birthday.
Terrifying footage shows the couple surrounded by nearly a dozen men. One woman is lying on the ground, while another woman appears to be held down by one of the alleged attackers.
The attack occurred after one of the men allegedly made a rude comment about Emma MacLean as she walked through downtown Halifax, Canada, with her friend Tori Hogan after hitting a few bars to celebrate Emma’s birthday on June 22.
Tori, angry at the insult, stood up for Emma, saying, “Hey, watch your words, that’s my girlfriend,” as she followed the men to confront them. Salt thread defeated.
But then the group of about 10 men, who Emma and Tori believe are from the Middle East and Syria, began beating Tori around 1:30 a.m.
“I saw Tori being pushed onto the steps, right in front of the BMO Centre. They were concrete steps, and she was on her back. Then all the men started hitting her and kicking her,” Emma says. told CTV News.
Emma MacLean, left, and her friend Tori, right, were attacked by a group of men in downtown Halifax late last month while celebrating one of their birthdays
The group of men, believed to be from Syria, surrounded one woman while the other tried to break free from the grasp of another man.
Emma MacLean said she was left with a chipped tooth, a broken nose and bruises after the incident, while Tori had bruises all over her body
Emma says she initially yelled at the men to stop, but they ignored her and continued to attack her friend.
“All of a sudden they all swarmed around her and started punching her in the ribs and kicking her, and I went into fight-or-flight mode,” Emma told Saltwire.
She explained that she was trying to protect Tori. She said she “basically jumped on the back of one of them and put him in a chokehold, trying to hold him down.”
Video footage shows several men in the group kicking one of the women, who is lying on the ground, while the other tries to break free from the grip of another man.
Eventually, a bystander alerted police patrolling the area, but by the time officers arrived, the fight was over, Emma said.
Officers then spoke to one of the men involved in the alleged attack, who said he blamed the two women for the fight.
While he gave his ID, the other men involved refused to cooperate with police and identify themselves, Emma said.
Police told CTV News they are still investigating the incident and no charges have been filed against the attackers.
Emma told Saltwire that the men told Tori, “You wish you had a dick.”
“It’s clear they singled her out. She presents more masculine than I do, so I think they thought they had permission. She was an easy target for them,” she said.
Emma said Tori had bruises on her arm and under her eye from the attack.
Meanwhile, she said she also had bruises under her eye, a chipped tooth and a broken nose.
An officer at the scene told MacLean that one of the men blamed the women for the attack, while the others refused to cooperate
MacLean is now asking the public to help identify her attackers
Emma said of the incident that she ‘felt punches and kicks and then I felt it on my nose and saw blood’.
“I just thought, ‘This has to stop now,’” she added, telling CTV News that her nose was initially too swollen for surgery.
Emma said the incident left her “terrified” and she went to downtown Halifax because things could have gotten “so out of hand.”
She said: ‘It’s overwhelming. I didn’t expect something like this to happen, especially since it’s happening during Pride Month.’
Emma then shared photos of the men on the night of the attack and called on anyone with information about the incident, or possibly even video footage, to come forward.
