A same-sex couple were left with broken bones and bruises after a group of men allegedly beat the women while shouting degrading and homophobic slurs in Nova Scotia during pride month.
The women were walking in downtown Halifax after a birthday celebration on the night of June 22 when a group of young men passed them and made “a sexually degrading” comment to one of the girlfriends, Emma MacLean.
MacLean said her partner, Tori, confronted the alleged catcaller for the gross comment and the man then lobbed “several disgusting slurs, some being homophobic” at them in a post on Facebook.
The verbal fight then turned physical as the group of seven to ten men began attacking both her and her partner — “throwing several punches and kicks to our faces, ribs, etc.,” MacLean wrote.
She shared photos of her own bloodied nose and chipped bottom tooth and her partner’s bruised lip and cut-up elbow.
“The outcome of this attack has resulted in a broken nose, chipped tooth, several bruises and lumps on our head, faces, etc,” MacLean said in the post. “We are extremely thankful that things were not worse.”
A video reportedly taken by a bystander shows the group of men surrounding the two women who are on the ground.
“Hey, she’s a girl, stop!” a woman shouts.
“What the f–k’s wrong with you?!” another woman can be heard screaming as the group tangles in the footage.
MacLean told CTV News that her partner Tori was pushed by one of the men onto cement stairs and she fell to the ground.
“That’s when all the men start punching and kicking her,” she told the local news station.
MacLean screamed at them to stop but they ignored her. She then jumped on one of the men’s backs to try to get him off her partner, she said.
“I felt punches and kicks and then I felt it on my nose and there was blood. I just thought this needs to stop now,” she said in an on-camera interview.
A bystander alerted a nearby officer on patrol but the men had already walked away at that point, according to the station.
An officer approached the couple and said that they spoke to the men and got the ID of one while the others would not cooperate, MacLean told CTV.
The men reportedly told the cops that the couple had attacked them.
The shocking assault has left MacLean shaken.
“I’m terrified to go downtown again in Halifax. I just feel like it’s so out of your control on what could happen,” she said. “It’s overwhelming. I didn’t expect something like this to happen, especially with it happening during pride month as well.”