A terrifying video shows the moment a mob of men brutally beat a lesbian couple who were celebrating one of their birthdays.
The group, made up of between seven and ten men, could be seen kicking one of the women, who was lying on the ground surrounded by her attackers, while the other struggled to free herself from the clutches of another man.
Both women were injured in the attack, which Emma MacLean said began when one of the men made a rude comment to her as she and her girlfriend, identified only as Tori, were walking down a street in Halifax, Canada, on June 22.
“My girlfriend, Tori, said, ‘Hey, that’s my girlfriend,'” he said. told CTV News.
But that simply prompted men to make homophobic comments towards them, MacLean said.
Emma MacLean, left, and her girlfriend Tori, right, were attacked by a group of men in downtown Halifax late last month while they were celebrating one of their birthdays.
A video showed the group of seven to ten men kicking one of the women, who was lying on the ground surrounded by her attackers, while the other struggled to free herself from the clutches of another man.
At that point, MacLean said, his girlfriend became upset and tried to confront the men.
“They continued walking and then Tori followed them to verbally tell them ‘That’s not okay,'” MacLean said.
That’s when the group allegedly began beating Tori.
‘I see Tori was pushed down the stairs right in front of the BMO Center, and they’re cement stairs, and she’s on her back; that’s when all the men started punching her and kicking her.
MacLean said she initially yelled at the men to stop, but they ignored her and continued to attack her girlfriend.
So he decided to try to protect Tori.
“The fight or flight response kicked in,” MacLean explained, saying he “basically jumped on the back of one of them and choked him, trying to restrain him.”
Emma MacLean said she suffered a chipped tooth, a broken nose and bruises as a result, while Tori had bruises all over her body.
Eventually, a bystander alerted police patrolling the area nearby, but by then, MacLean said, the fight was over.
Officers then spoke to one of the men involved in the assault, who blamed the fight on the two women.
The other men involved refused to cooperate with police or give their identification, MacLean said.
Police told CTV News they are still investigating the incident and no charges have been filed against the attackers.
Meanwhile, MacLean said Tori was suffering from bruises all over her body and had a chipped tooth, a broken nose and bruises.
An officer at the scene told MacLean that one of the men blamed the women for the assault, while the others refused to cooperate.
MacLean is now appealing to the public to help identify her attackers, whom she described on Facebook as “Middle Eastern men, believed to be from Syria.”
Recounting the incident, she said: “I felt punches and kicks and then I felt it on my nose and there was blood.”
“I thought, ‘This has to stop now,'” she said, telling CTV News her nose was too swollen for surgery.
MacLean says she is now “terrified” of returning to downtown Halifax.
“I feel like it’s out of my control what could happen,” she said. “It’s overwhelming.”
“I didn’t expect something like this to happen, especially since it’s happening during Pride Month,” MacLean added.
She is now asking the public to help her identify her attackers, who… described on Facebook as ‘Middle Eastern men, believed to be from Syria’.
She went on to share photos of the men from the night of the attack, saying: “If anyone has any further information or has witnessed this event, or has personal video footage, I would be extremely grateful if you could share it.”
“Stay safe and happy Pride Month,” she wrote.
