The lesbian couple attacked on a London bus last month have spoken out, as police confirmed they have arrested five people in connection with the incident.
Melania Geymonat and her partner Chris were attacked on the way back from a night out in North London, after a group of men allegedly asked the couple to kiss for their entertainment. When Geymonat refused, they attacked the couple, leaving the 28-year-old with a suspected broken nose.
In a now-viral Facebook post, Geymonat wrote:
"They started behaving like hooligans, demanding that we kissed so they could enjoy watching, calling us 'lesbians' and describing sexual positions. I don’t remember the whole episode, but the word 'scissors' stuck in my mind...
"We have to endure verbal harassment and chauvinist, misogynistic, and homophobic violence because when you stand up for yourself shit like this happens."
Geymonat said she initially tried to break the tension by making jokes, but instead the attackers, aged between 15 and 18, began throwing coins at the couple. "The next thing I know is that Chris is in the middle of the bus fighting with them," explained Geymonat, who is originally from Uruguay.
"On an impulse, I went over there only to find her face bleeding and three of them beating her up," she explained, which led to her being attacked, potentially losing consciousness. When she came to, police had arrived, and she was bleeding rather heavily, leading to this chilling photo:
"They got up out of their seats and walked over to where we were, and started very aggressively harassing us. Fighting broke out and they took my phone, her phone, her bag and they ran off the bus," said Chris to CBS Evening News.
Here's the report from CBS:"I want people to feel emboldened to stand up to the same people who feel emboldened by the right-wing populism that is I feel responsible for the escalation of hate crimes," continued Chris.