On Monday, July 5, the streets of Spain were flooded with protests demanding justice for Samuel Luiz, a 24-year-old nursing assistant in an elderly home, who was murdered over the weekend in A Coruña.

Some 10,000 people gathered in Maria Pita square, the symbol of the city, to reject the homophobic violence that took place days earlier. In Madrid, Barcelona, Andalusia, and Bilbao, citizens also took to the streets to demand justice for Samuel.

It was around 3 a.m. on the morning of Saturday, July 3, when Luiz was attacked on the promenade in A Coruña, Galicia by a group of young men who ended his life.

Leaving a discotheque, Samuel tried to clear up a misunderstanding. While the group of boys thought he was recording them with his cell phone, Samuel explained that his friend Lina Suarez and he had left the disco to make a video call with Vanesa, another friend.  

"Stop filming me if you don't want me to kill you, faggot," Lina heard from one of Samuel's aggressors as they began to beat and kick him on the ground.

The beating was so savage that despite being rushed to the hospital in A Coruña, he did not survive. Neither the Ministry of the Interior nor the local Police confirm that Samuel's murder was homophobic. However, many LGTBQ+ organizations were present in the main Spanish squares to demand justice.

Samuel's father, Maxsoud Luiz, asked the police to arrest the assailants, who fled before the ambulance arrived to take Samuel to the hospital where he died.

"I would ask the families of those who killed my son how they would feel if they were in my place," he said.

"It is being studied whether it is a hate crime," said Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska.

Meanwhile, Galician Police presume there were seven aggressors who triggered the fatal beating. A video of the aggression is circulating on social media, and it is known that the incident was recorded by security cameras in the surrounding area. In addition, the nightclubs in the area have listed all the attendees, so it is expected that the perpetrators may soon be caught.

"What they call you when they kill you matters," was read on a banner during the demonstration in Puerta del Sol on July 5.