Beijing Police Attack Women for Wearing Rainbow Badges

On Sunday's International Day Against Homophobia, police in Beijing attacked at least two people wearing rainbow badges.

An LGBT activist was handing out the badges at the entrance to Beijing's 798 art district, but police forced her to stop and prevented people wearing the badges from entering, The Guardian reports. In incidents captured on video, officers punched one woman sporting a badge and knocked her to the ground. Then another woman attempted to hit a guard and was also beaten to the ground.

The footage taken by witnesses has circulated on Chinese social media with #798Beating. In response, the Chinese government blocked the hashtag and video on social media (Facebook and Twitter are already censored and not available to Chinese citizens).

"In some countries, people can marry who they love," wrote one user of Weibo, a Twitter-like platform, The Guardian reports. "We're not even allowed to enter 798 art district while wearing rainbow badges, and we get beaten."

While being gay is not illegal in China, gay content and activities are regularly restricted.

In an open letter, the Guangzhou Gender and Sexuality Education Centre called the altercation "not only a violation of the dignity and rights of the LGBT community, but also a naked trampling of the basic rights of citizens prescribed by the constitution."

Watch the attack in the video below.