Kim from Eindhoven is angry. She got a stone through her window on Sunday and says the police then advised her not to hang a rainbow flag anymore. That would be in the interest of her own safety. “That’s the upside-down world,” says Kim. Police declined to comment due to privacy concerns.
Kim is an LGBTI person and lives in the Stratum district. She had hung a rainbow flag at her apartment especially for Pride month, because she wanted to show that other people of the rainbow community can also be there.
It was the third time in a short time that something happened. Twice before, her rainbow flag was pulled from the wall. The first lasted ten hours, the second flag was caught and taken away by a passerby after twenty hours. On Sunday there was another rainbow flag and she got a stone through her window. She filmed the perpetrator as he cycled past.
Advice
When the police came to take a closer look and record the report, she says she was advised to omit the rainbow flag for her own safety from now on. That pissed her off. “I’m sure it’s well-intentioned, but you shouldn’t blame the victim.”
Kim decided to send an angry letter to the mayor of Eindhoven. She calls the attack ‘a blow to the freedom and acceptance that we stand for as a city and community’. She also calls for a more active policy to protect gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgenders. Mayor Jeroen Dijsselbloem has not yet responded to Kim’s letter.
Hooligans
Recently, the municipality of Eindhoven has made a case for the rights and protection of the pink community. In June, a group of football hooligans raised the rainbow flag from the COC building in the center of the city. An employee who said something about it was beaten. Visitors were intimidated. A few days later, the new flag was hoisted amid great interest.
Kim’s full name is known to the editors.