The Spanish city honors migrants who intervened in a homophobic attack

A Spanish city has honored two Senegalese migrants for their heroism when trying to save a gay man hit until death by a homophobic mafia.

Ibrahima Diack and Magatte N’Diaye received on Monday “adopted children of the city” in a coruña in a formal ceremony that recognizes their actions.

The men were the only ones who intervened in July 2021, when Samuel Luiz was attacked by a group of men and kicked and hit out of a nightclub in the city of the Northwest.

The 24 -year -old died of his wounds in the hospital, an event that caused national outrage and conviction.

On Monday, in a formal ceremony in the municipal council hall, Mayor Inés Rey described the actions of migrants as “pure heroism.”

The images of that night showed other spectators watching, some filming in the mobile phones, and the two are the only ones that intervened.

“That two undocumented migrants were the only ones who physically risk themselves to help the victim of a thirst for horror, leaves a lot of food to think and a series of lessons,” said Mayor Rey.

“Thank you for your example by risking everything despite having much to lose,” said another councilor, Rosalía López, On Instagram on a post sharing videos of the ceremony.

Dikack and Mr. N’Diaye had been living in the city without documents at that time and doing irregular jobs, putting them at risk of arrest and deportation if they came into contact with the authorities.

But both men said Monday that they had just done what they thought it was the right thing to try to stop violence. In front of a multitude of attendees in the Board Hall on Monday, the mayor gave them plates granted by the state of “adopted children of a coruña.”

“We are not heroes, we did what we had to do,” said Mr. N’Diaye, according to an AFP report.

Diack said: “I was born in a family that doesn’t have much … but they gave me many more valuable things than money. They gave me respect, education and, above all, values.”

The two were also crucial witnesses in the trial of Mr. Luiz’s murderers last November, the Spanish media reported.

A jury found four guilty men of the murder, and the Court ordered sentences between 10 and 24 years. The court determined that the main defendant, given a 24 -year judgment, had shouted homophobic insults during the attack.

Tens of thousands of migrants illegally arrive in Spain every year through boat crosses through the Atlantic, with the most common arrivals of Mali, Senegal and Morocco.