A Russian gay campsite was attacked by a gang in the middle of the night, with people being left beaten and robbed.

The Russian LGBT Sport Federation held a sporting weekend on the bank of the river Linda at the weekend, near the city of Nizhny Novgorod.

People from Moscow flew in to take part in the sports weekend on 6 and 7 August, with a day of sports, social events, beach football and volleyball tournaments.

There was no advertising anywhere that it was an LGBTI event.

But somehow, a gang found out.

At around 11pm, when the camp was sitting by a fire and guitar was playing, they were attacked.

Five to eight unknown people came with bats, crashing into cars and shouting homophobic slurs.

Any person who tried to stop the assailants were beaten and many received serious wounds. The tents were cut, with personal belongings and money and documents taken. Some of this was thrown away nearby in the forest.

Police arrived and worked for six hours to collect all material evidence, fingerprints and write up reports.

The victims were left to find shelter on the other side of the river in the middle of the night.

The same group has faced numerous attacks in the past year, and not a single one has seen arrests or the perpetrators being charged.

A Russian LGBT Sport Federation spokesperson said the group ‘strongly condemns criminal actions of the assailants and calls the police to solve this crime committed on the grounds of hate to sexual orientation and gender identity.

‘The police duty is to find the perpetrators and bring them to justice.’