Author Topic: Gay couple targeted in homophobic attack by teenage gang on east London street (what is missing in the headline?}  (Read 969 times)

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rangerrebew

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Gay couple targeted in homophobic attack by teenage gang on east London street

 David Churchill 


Published: 24 June 2014


Updated: 13:44, 24 June 2014

A gay couple today told how they are afraid to walk around East London after a teenage gang branded them “bleep” and assaulted them.
 


Walter Adrian, 23, and his boyfriend, who asked not to be named, were attacked outside Barclays bank on Whitechapel Road after leaving a friend’s party.

As they withdrew cash, up to seven Bangladeshi teenagers on pushbikes surrounded them asking “who is s***ing who off?” and “are you bleep?”. They then punched and kicked the couple.

Mr Adrian, a freelance journalist from Bow, said: “We weren’t even holding hands or kissing or anything, but all the comments were based on us being gay.

 
Victim: Walter Adrian, 23
 

“One of them said ‘f***ing bleep’ so we wanted to try and leave and my partner pushed one of them but then they got physical.

“They punched him and then there were six or seven of them just going at us while we were cornered against the wall.

“They were saying, ‘this is our street, this is our area, get out of here’, just because they thought we were gay. It happens a lot round this area and East London.

“We weren’t even acting gay and that’s what’s upsetting. Whether anyone is gay or not you just can’t feel safe. You’re scared of being attacked and afraid to go out by yourself.”

Mr Adrian was left unconscious after the attack just before midnight on Friday, June 13, when the pair were hit at least ten times. He has bruises around his temple and stomach while his partner had a swollen jaw.


Mr Adrian described the attackers as 15 to 18-year-old Bangladeshis wearing dark sports clothing, some with hoodies. One was wearing an over-sized yellow T-shirt. The gang rode off down Sidney Street following the seven-minute attack and did not make any attempts to steal the couple’s phones or cash.

Mr Adrian’s partner, a Masters media student at Goldsmiths University, said: “I feel like I have to ‘gay-down’ a bit, that I should wear trousers and not skinny ones. We are not very gay, we don’t wear pink or glitter, and they still picked on us.

“We are just scared and afraid it might happen again and it just shouldn’t be like that. You get these patrols that make you feel like you’re trespassing in their area. I think it’s a clash as people are starting to move into multicultural areas.”

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: “We were called at 1.40am on June 13 to reports of an assault in Whitechapel Road. Investigations continue.”

Offline mountaineer

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“We weren’t even acting gay and that’s what’s upsetting. Whether anyone is gay or not you just can’t feel safe. You’re scared of being attacked and afraid to go out by yourself.”
Not when your own government consciously ignores crimes committed by Muslims or, worse, applies Sharia law.
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Oceander

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“We weren’t even acting gay and that’s what’s upsetting. Whether anyone is gay or not you just can’t feel safe. You’re scared of being attacked and afraid to go out by yourself.”

Which means that the title of the article is misleading and politically motivated.  The attacks had nothing to do with their being gay, but with their being at the wrong place at the wrong time.

rangerrebew

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Which means that the title of the article is misleading and politically motivated.  The attacks had nothing to do with their being gay, but with their being at the wrong place at the wrong time.

EC could explain this thought better than I, but the fact Britain is MUCH more tolerant of gays than America, and the gays have many  more years of acting it so may not even recognize when they are acting gay.  As they say in sports, you play like you practice and if you "practice" acting gay, its unlikely you can hide it from people who actively hate gays.  The fact they knew enough to not act gay would indicate they were familiar with area and it was dangerous to act in such a manner.  Just some thoughts.
« Last Edit: July 02, 2014, 01:25:59 pm by rangerrebew »

Offline EC

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Which means that the title of the article is misleading and politically motivated.  The attacks had nothing to do with their being gay, but with their being at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Not quite right.

The East End is a weird place at the best of times, and Whitechapel is a tough place. Traditionally grindingly poor and heavily industrial at the same time, and there is a very strict hierarchy, which can be best summarized as "shit flows downhill."

You have the original residents. Families have been there for generations, often centuries, they frequently have connections to organized crime within the various clans and they usually keep themselves to themselves.

Then you have the displacements. Moved there after being bombed out in the war and the kids and grandkids  are low level thugs. The BNP finds those a very fertile recruiting ground. It's pretty much the group that invented skinheads and Paki bashing.

Thirdly, you have the immigrants. Again - we are talking people who have been there for a couple of generations, usually. They moved in because it were cheap and available and there were a ton of jobs in Dagenham.

Finally, and lowest on the totem pole, you have the incomers. The ones who do the loft living lifestyle. You know the sort - hip, urban, minimalist (think hipsters but ones who actually earn money) - and all too frequently are gay.

Each level hits the one below it. The incomers are, quite simply, prey. No one wants to get rid of them, after all, shit may flow downhill but money flows uphill, but they tend to get kept in their place. Now the article says the attackers were of Bangladeshi origin. It could equally well have been a group of Caribbean origin - both have an intense and irrational hatred of gays. They won't attack the skinheads - those work by mob rule and somewhat effectively - but they will quite happily go to town on incomers.

The other thing to take from the article is they were not robbed. Bunch of teens not taking easy pickings? There is way more to this story than meets the eye. Fortunately, South of the river it's a lot calmer. We have more originals and they rule with an iron hand.
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Offline mountaineer

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Mr Adrian described the attackers as 15 to 18-year-old Bangladeshis wearing dark sports clothing, some with hoodies.
My guess is that the perps are of the religion of peace.  :whistle:
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Online kevindavis007

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My guess is that the perps are of the religion of peace.  :whistle:


Could it be the Mormons????
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Offline Atomic Cow

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Typical misleading media headline.  Just like the story last week about a man who was arrested for raping and shooting two teenage lesbians in Texas.

The media spun the story for months and even when he was arrested, still tried to claim it was a hate crime.

His real reason for doing it?  He is a serial rapist who found the two girls alone, raped them both, and shot them, but one survived.  They were targets of opportunity, nothing more.
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Offline olde north church

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If I'm not mistaken, Whitechapel is where "Jack the Ripper" plied his trade.
Why?  Well, because I'm a bastard, that's why.