A gay couple say they were “violently attacked” while walking down the street in Radcliffe, Bury, on Tuesday.
Ryan Winnard, 21, was walking with his boyfriend Max Green, 18, on Coronation Road when a group of men in balaclavas stole their belongings and assaulted them.
Uploading bloody photos to Facebook, Winnard said the group attacked him with a hammer, leaving him with injuries to his face and knees.
Winnard stated that the group shouted homophobic abuse and stole his coat, bag, phone, house keys, bank cards and shoes, while also stealing his boyfriend’s belongings.
Calling the attack “surreal”, Winnard wrote on Facebook: “Me and my boyfriend was violently attacked yesterday at around 8.15pm in Radcliffe on the way home from his grandparents.”
“Around six lads targeted us just purely based on the fact we was linking in the street.
“I’m uploading this post as I’m just totally lost for words on how people think it’s OK to target us because we’re gay.”
Winnard said he called the police shortly after the attack, but told Manchester Evening News that it was more than two hours until the emergency services responded.
Greater Manchester Police said in a statement: “Enquiries established that a group of around five to six people, wearing balaclavas, approached two males before assaulting them and stealing property from them including a phone.
“The men were also subject to verbal abuse from the group.
“No arrests have been made and enquiries are ongoing.”
The attack comes just weeks after a woman was left with a broken jaw after a homophobic attack in London’s West End.
The 21-year-old was punched and called homophobic slurs after a “very flirty” man approached the woman and her girlfriend and she told him that they were a couple, according to the Metropolitan Police.
Figures obtained by Vice World News shows that anti-LGBT+ hate crime is surging across Britain, with the number of hate crime reports tripling in the last six years.