A 17-year-old boy from Veldhoven was arrested on Tuesday for destroying the rainbow flag of the COC building in Eindhoven. On April 8, a group of men pulled the flag of the LGBT interest group from the wall and set it on fire. A COC volunteer was punched in the face when he said something about it.
The boy from Veldhoven has confessed that he was part of the group. He is not suspected of assaulting the volunteer, but of public violence.
Police have also arrested a second person as a suspect. But upon investigation, it strongly appears that this man was somewhere else during the vandalism.
Both were released after questioning. The investigation into the destruction at the COC building in Eindhoven continues. The police do not rule out that more people will be arrested.
Football supporters
When the flag was pulled from the wall, a meeting was taking place in the COC building for young people up to the age of eighteen. A group of strangers pulled off the rainbow flag and set it on fire. The volunteer who confronted them about this received a blow to the head.
According to the COC, it would concern football supporters. The incident happened an hour before the PSV match against Excelsior started. It is not clear whether they were also supporters of the Eindhoven club.
Black clothes
“We knew that it was football supporters who went to a PSV match, because they themselves used the word PSV. But whether it concerns Excelsior or PSV supporters, we do not know,” said the chairman of the COC after the event.
It concerned a group of about twenty men who wore black clothing. They walked down the street with much shouting and roaring. “One of them climbed on the shoulders of another man and they took the flag down. It was a very scary situation,” says the chairman. “We are still anxious. The young people do not dare to show themselves on the street with rainbow clothing or rainbow flags.”
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