CITY TRIBUNE
Angry victim ‘left in fear’ after late-night homophobic attack
A non-binary person has told of being afraid of walking the city’s streets after suffering physically and emotionally in an apparent homophobic incident a week after Galway Gay Pride.
Zerhanah, a bisexual who does not identify as exclusively male or female, recalled being thrown to the ground when coming to the aid of a friend who was allegedly punched several times during a late night attack at Spanish Arch.
The Dubliner who lives in Galway said it was a reminder that despite great societal and legislative changes, homophobia was ‘still a thing’.
“Most queer people have had things shouted at them on the street. I’ve had my fair share of things shouted at me – faggot, dyke, you name it I’ve been called it but I’ve never been physically attacked for it before and obviously it was terrifying,” the 19-year-old told the Galway City Tribune.
“It did shock me; the reality that I’m living somewhere you can’t just go outside and be yourself, be openly queer and expect to feel safe. You can’t brush it off. It’s scary leaving the house because I don’t know if this will happen again. A lot of people think this wouldn’t happen, that we’ve moved past that, but the issue is we really haven’t.”
In a post on Twitter following the incident, Zerhanah said: “Thank u random men in Galway for punching my friend, throwing me into the ground, spraining my leg and calling us faggots just for dancing and having a nice time at Spanish Arch. I will report you and I will get you done for this.”
In a post the following day, Zerhanah thanked people for the support. “Just wanted to say thank u to everyone sending me love and support right now. I’m home from hospital and in a lot of pain and emotional from what happened but I’ll b okay and ily (I love you) all. There are some proper assholes out there so everyone please stay safe,” the tweet said.
The NUIG law and taxation student, who uses the pronoun ‘they’ rather than he or she, recounted the events of the night to this newspaper.
“We were having a few drinks at Spanish Arch and suddenly the word ‘faggot’ was being thrown around. We were a group of very obviously queer people; five or six very outwardly queer presenting. There was a group of about 10 lads there too.
“Two of my friends were up dancing and the word ‘faggot’ was being thrown around by the group of lads. We didn’t know if it was directed at us or not but my friend turned around, and said ‘what are you saying?’ He then started to be punched and got about six punches to the face. I ran over to try pull him away. As soon as I stood up to pull him away I was thrown onto the ground by one of them. The word ‘faggot’ was still being thrown around, I could hear it being shouted at me. I went over on my ankle; couldn’t stand up, couldn’t walk. I was basically on the ground wailing for help,” said Zerhanah.
An ambulance arrived and the People Before Profit political activist gave a statement on the night to Gardaí but did not make an official complaint when contacted days later by a Garda, who confirmed there was no CCTV footage of the incident.
“My friend is fine, his jaw was quite sore after it but there was no bruising. He knows self-defence so he managed to get out of it. Unfortunately I took the brunt of the soreness. I’m still not properly able to walk without the crutch at times,” Zerhanah said.
A Garda spokesperson said: “We don’t have a report of an assault in the Spanish Arch area over the weekend (Thursday, August 19, to Sunday, 22).”
Former Mayor, Councillor Niall McNelis (Labour), Chair of Galway City Joint Policing Committee, said in general, Galway was a safe place to live and socialise but assaults were increasing.
“I would hope and pray that it wasn’t a homophobic assault. I’d like to think that it wouldn’t be in Galway because it is a safe city, and an open city. If it was then we have a problem.
“I wouldn’t like the message to go out that Galway is not safe, because generally it is. But yes, recently we have had problems with assaults, and they are increasing and we have to ask is that because we are socialising outdoors, or because of the level of alcohol or because of large congregations in places like Eyre Square. People will be sending their teenagers to Galway now with college starting back. I would say to them that Galway is safe,” said Cllr McNelis.
Gay Pride was held in the city from August 8 to 15. Its chair, city councillor Owen Hanley, spoke about negativity towards the LGBT+ community, after the rainbow flag was stolen during the festival.
From this week’s Galway City Tribune – An extensive gorse fire in the Tonabrocky area this week – which raged for over 12 hours – at one stage threatened a number of houses in the area.
Fire Brigade resources were stretched as they battled on Wednesday evening to contain the fire which burned across several acres before being brought under control in the early hours of Thursday morning.
Fire brigade units from the city, Athenry and Carraroe fought the blaze, which at one point led to fears that residents in nearby houses would have to be evacuated.
Up to six fire tenders were involved in fighting the blaze which is thought to have started around 4 or 5pm on Wednesday – it was one of a series of gorse fires which occurred around the county over the course of the past week.
Fire Brigade personnel fought the blaze through the evening and into the early hours of the morning before eventually having it fully contained by 6am on Thursday morning.
The fire – which sent plumes of smoke several feet into the air and also across local roads – occurred at an area of commonage between Boleybeg and Tonabrocky.
Local councillor, John Connolly, has urged Galway City and County Councils to come together and launch an awareness’ campaign about the dangers of fires during extended periods of dry weather.
This is a shortened preview version of this story. To read the rest of the article, see the June 9 edition of the Galway City Tribune. You can support our journalism and buy a digital edition HERE.
From this week’s Galway City Tribune – The HSE has paid €11.85 million for the building to house its new ‘Integrated Care Hub’ in Knockncacarra – which is €1.35m over the open market value of the office block.
Confidential HSE documentation seen by the Galway City Tribune shows that Block A in Galway West Business Park – the former Aviva Insurance building – was independently valued at €10.5m.
The HSE subsequently paid €11.85m for the property.
According to the documentation, the building will cost €14.85m to fit out – however, that figure was based on construction costs in February 2022 and is expected to rise again due to inflation. Just seven months prior to that estimate, the fit-out works were costed at €10.8m.
A planning application is currently being put together for a new ‘Enhanced Primary Care Centre’ in the building, which will house Primary Care Teams as well as a unit for chronic disease management. A total of 105 staff will be based there.
When the matter was brought to the Board of the HSE nationally, they were told the purchase price was €1.3m above market value.
The other option shortlisted by the HSE was a ‘new build’ on lands at Merlin Park – this was costed at €33.1m because it would involve “considerable site upgrade works” and would much longer to deliver.
This is a shortened preview version of this story. To read the rest of the article, see the June 9 edition of the Galway City Tribune. You can support our journalism and buy a digital edition HERE.
From this week’s Galway City Tribune – Gardaí in the city are investigating two reported incidents over the weekend of indecent exposure and offensive sexual conduct – one of them at a beach in Salthill and the other in the Eyre Square area.
In the first of the incidents in Eyre Square on Friday last, a man approached a woman at around 5.30pm and exposed himself.
The woman reported the incident to the Gardaí who are carrying out an investigation into what happened.
The second incident – which is understood to be unrelated to the first one – occurred at a busy beach in Salthill on Bank Holiday Monday.
One mother who contacted the Galway City Tribune said that she saw a man ‘writhing up and down in the sand’ before putting his hand down in the front of his Bermuda shorts.
She said that about 10-minutes later, the man moved along to the next beach – which was also crowded with people – while another woman nearby, who saw the same actions, contacted the Gardai.
This is a shortened preview version of this story. To read the rest of the article, see the June 9 edition of the Galway City Tribune. You can support our journalism and buy a digital edition HERE.
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