Four young people aged between 24 and 26, two boys and two girls, claim to have been victims of homophobia inside Beiramar Shopping, in Florianópolis. One of the victims reported that the reason for the attack suffered by the security guards there was discrimination arising from their sexual orientation. The case happened on the night of last Saturday, 06th. In a statement, the mall claims that the four “were shouting and singing songs with offensive words and gestures”. Videos of the moment are circulating on social media (check out the end of the article). “The four of us are homosexuals and our appearance bothered the security guards. We were excited, singing and were approached before being able to take five steps into the place”, reported one of the 26-year-old victims, who is a businessman and chose to preserve his identity. According to the victims, they entered the shopping mall to withdraw money from the ATM to pay for the trip. Upon entering the venue, however, security guards prevented us from visiting the space. In photos sent to the Gay1 website, it is possible to see bruises on the body of one of the young people attacked by the establishment's security guards. Still on the website, they say that they were taken to the police station, but were forced to sign “a detailed statement, as if we were guilty of the commotion, but that is not true”, says the businessman, who reiterates his intention to open a police report. incident with the Civil Police. See note from the mall “Yesterday night (06/01), there was a disturbance in the external area, caused by four people, who were shouting and singing songs with offensive words and gestures, a behavior that generated complaints from customers and the population passing by on site. When security guards observe that situations like this can cause greater harm, including between customers and the perpetrators, they ask the perpetrators to moderate their behavior, as was the case yesterday, asking the young people to stop the action. In response, they were attacked, initially verbally and then physically by them, who, in addition to the untimely reaction, went into the enterprise where they again began to cause turmoil. The young people were then restrained by the Beiramar Shopping team until the police arrived, who were called and everything was recorded in a police report. The images from the security cameras were provided to the police and the Beiramar Shopping security guards underwent a body and crime examination, proving the attacks by the young people. The shopping mall reiterates that its employees are trained to ensure safety and order in the area, mainly preventing groups of rioters from bringing into the enterprise risk situations for visitors – especially during tourism seasons – where not only the image of the shopping mall, like the city itself, can be negatively affected.” WATCH THE VIDEOS
