A Ryanair flight attendant and her girlfriend were covered in blood after a gang of men allegedly attacked them on a London bus because they refused to kiss.
Melania Geymonat, 28, was riding the bus with her American girlfriend Chris after an evening out in West Hampstead, North West London, in the early hours of May 30.
But during the journey, she claimed a gang of young men behind them saw they were a couple and started to demand they kiss while making crude sexual gestures.
She said: ‘The next thing I know is I’m being punched. I got dizzy at the sight of my blood and fell back. I don’t remember whether or not I lost consciousness.’
Scotland Yard today confirmed it was investigating the ‘homophobic attack’ which saw a phone and bag stolen during the assault on the N31 bus at 2.30am.
Miss Geymonat added: ‘They wanted us to kiss so they could watch us. I tried to defuse the situation as I’m not a confrontational person, telling them to please leave us alone as Chris wasn’t feeling well.’
The men, who were in their 20s or 30s, began throwing things on the bus – which was travelling towards Camden – and the couple told them to stop.
Both women were taken to hospital for treatment to facial injuries. Miss Geymonat said one of the men spoke Spanish and the others had British accents.
‘The next thing I remember was Chris in the middle of them and they were beating her,’ added Ms Geymonat, who is originally from Uruguay but now lives in the Essex village of Takeley.
‘I didn’t think about it and went in. I was pulling her back and trying to defend her so they started beating me up.
‘I don’t even know if I was knocked unconscious. I felt blood, I was bleeding all over my clothes and all over the floor. We went downstairs and the police were there.’
Miss Geymonat claims the pair had decided to sit at the front on the top deck because they both enjoy the novelty of a double decker bus.
But the journey turned out to be far worse than expected. She is now waiting to find out if her nose was broken in the vile attack.
She said there were at least four of them and one spoke Spanish while the others had a British accent. The attackers also allegedly robbed the couple before fleeing the bus.
Miss Geymonat, who moved to the UK in February and is on a year’s sabbatical from her medical studies, said she had felt safe as a gay woman in London.
But after being stunned by the attack, she released the picture to raise awareness of violence against women and gay people.
Miss Geymonat added: ‘It’s not something isolated, it’s common. We were seen as entertainment, that’s what makes me so angry.’
The flight attendant shared about her experiences on Wednesday in a Facebook post which has now attracted more than 3,700 comments and 9,700 shares.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan tweeted: ‘This was a disgusting, misogynistic attack. Hate crimes against the LGBT+ community will not be tolerated in London.’
She graduated last year as a doctor at the Universidad de la República in Montevideo and had worked at the Hospital de Clínicas Montevideo before moving to the UK.
A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: ‘Police are appealing for witnesses and information after two women were assaulted and robbed in a homophobic attack on a bus in Camden.
‘The incident happened at approximately 2.30am on May 30 after the two women, both aged in their 20s, boarded a N31 bus in West Hampstead.
‘As they sat on the top deck they were approached by a group of four males who began to make lewd and homophobic comments to them.
‘The women were then attacked and punched several times before the males ran off the bus. A phone and bag were stolen during the assault. Both women were taken to hospital for treatment to facial injuries.’
Siwan Hayward, director of compliance, policing and on-street services at Transport for London, said: ‘This sickening attack is utterly unacceptable. Homophobic behaviour and abuse is a hate crime and won’t be tolerated on our network.
‘All of our customers have the right to travel without fear of verbal or physical assault and we are working with the police to stamp out this behaviour on our transport network. We will do all we can to support the police investigation of this incident.’………culled from Dailymail.co.uk
