Arrest warrants issued after rainbow meeting attack

Police have made a number of arrests following an assault during a rainbow meeting on a college campus in Limassol, with local media suggesting warrants have been issued for both current and former students.

Local media said at least five arrest warrants had been issued on Thursday in connection with an assault during a Rainbow Meeting on Wednesday at TEPAK, where people met to discuss issues concerning sexual orientation.

A group of hooded men had stormed an LGBTQ event at a Cyprus University of Technology auditorium in downtown Limassol, yelling anti-gay slurs, assaulting participants, and discharging a fire extinguisher towards them.

Police declined to provide details about the suspects but local media said five males in their twenties were wanted in connection with the case, adding three of them were current students while two others had graduated from the institution. Some of them later walked into police stations where they were detained, reports said.

Additional reports suggested the warrants had been issued after investigators examined security camera footage and collected other information including car license plates of vehicles that were parked far away from the auditorium.

Accept - LGBTI Cyprus, which sponsored the event and posted a video of the incident on social media, says they have more videos in their possession, while according to witnesses there were about ten hooded men, one of whom had punched a student in the face.

“We won’t be intimated and we won’t stay silent,” ACCEPT said.

Story has been updated to reflect arrests in the case