A gay couple walking through the City of Madrid have come across a protest march and decided the best way to protest back was to show them, true love.
The couple stood up to homophobic protests and chants and kissed in front of 800 far-right protesters from the Hogar Social de Madrid organisation.
The extremist grown, known for campaigning to keep refugees out of Spain, was staging a protest in the city as he walked hand in hand with David Fernández, looking for a place relax.
“It was a beautiful day, so we wanted to find a table outside,” Gregor Eistert, one of the two men, explained to The Independent.
“When we came to Plaza del Dos de Mayo in Malasaña, we noticed a crazy amount of police. I asked one of the people who had stopped to watch what was going on. They said something about a protest.”
The protesters seemed to be transfixed by the two men as they walked through the crowd hand in hand and as you see from the twitter video below, once they kissed it created more abuse and police stepped in to take control.
El beso fue fruto de “la rabia” después de que los manifestantes los llamasen “sidosos” https://t.co/GU9SykoI5A pic.twitter.com/mNU5TnbH2C
— Joaquín Vera (@jjoaquinvera) May 22, 2016
“When they marched towards us, David and I were standing in the front row holding hands,” said Mr Eistert, who was born in Austria and is currently studying in Madrid on the Erasmus programme.
“First, we caught some disgusted looks from some people of Hogar Social Madrid (those who were marching), and then they started insulting us. We knew it wouldn’t help much screaming back. That’s when David suddenly grabbed me and we started to kiss.”
“We kept on kissing until the police said we’d have to stop now and leave,” said Mr Eistert.
“I guess the police just wanted to secure the area and avoid riots and/or fights… However, in removing us from where we were the police acted rather harshly.”
Mr Eistert said he felt sad that there is still so much intolerance: “We’re in 2016 – it should be the most normal thing to kiss someone when you feel like kissing them.”
Last Updated on May 26, 2016
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