Spaniards protest hate crime amid twist in high-profile case
By IRENE YAGÜE and JOSEPH WILSON
Associated Press
MADRID (AP) — Protests in Spain to denounce a rise in hate crimes against LGBTQ people have gone ahead after a high-profile case that had grabbed attention across the country took an unexpected twist. Thousands gathered in Madrid and Barcelona Wednesday, three days after a young man told police that he had been brutally assaulted in the Spanish capital. He said that his unidentified aggressors used a knife to slash his lip and carve a homophobic slur into one of his buttocks. But the Interior Ministry said that the young man has amended his statement to investigators to say that he consented to the wounds.
