A spate of allegedly homophobic attacks on young men and women in Liverpool have been condemned as "totally unacceptable" by Merseyside's crime commissioner.
At least four assaults with homophobic undertones have been spoken about publicly over the last month, most of them happening in the city centre, three of them in the past 10 days.
Victims have shared photographs of their bloodied faces on social media after unprovoked beatings, many of them amid vile verbal slurs being thrown at them.
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Yesterday, Emily Spurrell, Merseyside's recently-installed crime commissioner, said: "I'm aware of reports of another homophobic attack in the city centre.
"This kind of behaviour is totally unacceptable. I'm liaising with Merseyside Police for more info.
"All incidents of hate crime can be reported anonymously to @stophateuk or online at http://stophateuk.org"
Last week, the ECHO reported on two attacks which were allegedly fuelled by homophobia, both on male students, aged 19.
A further attack, which has recently come to light, was on Tyler Jones, a biological science graduate, who shared on Instagram how he was assaulted while with his boyfriend in Liverpool, on June 10/11.
Alongside a photo of his bloodied face, he said: "Awareness needs to be raised.
"Me, my boyfriend and a friend were physically assaulted and had a knife pulled on us last night in Liverpool.
"This was an unprovoked homophobic attack.
"It's Pride month, and I should be celebrating my identity, but instead I am victimised for it.
"Homophobia still exists in 2021. Nobody is born this hateful, we need to do better.
"Do the research, call out your friends, educate your family, learn from your mistakes."
He added: "Homophobic slurs were yelled at us and we received verbal abuser about our appearance.
"When they pulled the knife, they yelled: 'I'm going to kill you, fa**ot.'
"The three boys only attacked the three gay men and not the girl that was with is. We were not asking for it, we were simply trying to walk home."
Two more attacks have been reported on by the ECHO in the past week.
Josh Ormrod, 19, who identifies as bisexual, was assaulted on Fleet Street in the early hours of Thursday, June 17 as he left Level nightclub with a friend.
The student was left fearing his eye socket was broken.
Passers by, including student nurses, stopped to help Josh and his friend, who was having a panic attack, until police and an ambulance arrived.
One person who witnessed the assault told Josh that his attacker called him a homophobic slur.
Despite fears the attack broke Josh's eye sockets, X-rays have revealed the teenager sustained a bruised face and chipped tooth.
Only three days earlier, the Liverpool Hope University student’s friend, Curtis Stewart, who is also bisexual, was beaten on Lord Nelson Street after making sure his sister and a female friend got home safe.
The 19-year-old was left with two black eyes, a face fracture, and a possible need for dental surgery after a man, who was accompanied by two women, punched and headbutted him on Monday, June 14.
The first year Liverpool Hope University student, who is studying primary education, said the assault came out of nowhere as he walked alone at 4am after a night out with his sister and her friend who were visiting from Belfast.
While he doesn’t know for certain what motivated the attack, Curtis, who is bisexual, thinks “it possibly could [have been a hate crime] because of the amount of hate crimes that have happened this month.”
A recent statement from Merseyside Police indicated the apparent rise in hate crimes in the city in the last few weeks
A spokesperson said: "Over the past few weeks there have been several appalling hate crimes in our city centre and we are working tirelessly to find those responsible and bring them to justice.
“Everyone in Merseyside has the right to go about their daily business without the fear of being subjected to verbal or physical abuse based on their sexuality, and we remain committed to ensuring they can.
“I would take this opportunity to urge any victim of hate crime on Merseyside to please come forward and let us know. We have a team of officers and staff dedicated to protecting vulnerable people - including minority groups - who will make sure you will be supported at every step as sensitively as possible.”
