Two black gay American soldiers were beaten up by a group of up to 10 men for twerking and ‘acting too gay’ in a Croatian nightclub. Ny’Zavian Dozier, 24, and Keith D. Rowe, 25, were attacked at Opera, in Zadar, shortly after 3am Sunday morning.

Police said the servicemen ‘“danced a little more vigorously” and that annoyed these men who attacked them’. Local media reported that the friends were seen ‘twerking’, with the motive for the assault being ‘that the men had been acting gay’, according to The Voice of Croatia. Posting on Facebook, Mr Dozier described the incident as one of the ‘scariest moments’ of his life.

These guys had every intention of not letting us walk away alive,’ he wrote. ‘I have never felt so defenceless in my entire life. I truly couldn’t protect my friend. ‘A trip that started so beautiful ended up in such a horrible way but I’m grateful that my friend and I are alive!’ Mr Rowe also posted a video on Instagram where he can be seen sporting a black eye and cuts to his chin. ‘Me and Dozier got jumped by 10 Croatian men and basically we were fighting for our lives,’ he said. He described how they were helped by a girl they met at the club who took them to hospital, adding: ‘She is my angel, an amazing friend.’ Both men serve in the US Air Force and are stationed in Germany, but decided to take a short trip to Croatia, PinkNews reported. The US embassy in Zagreb condemned the attack.

Pjerino Bebic, the owner of the Opera Club, told Croatian media that he was not at the venue during the incident. ‘I condemn any violence, we at the Opera have such a relationship that all our guests are welcomed and no one ever looks at skin colour, religion or anything like that,’ he said.

‘There were a lot of guests in the club on Sunday night. Our staff intervened to prevent a major incident. ‘They called the police who took statements from everybody. Our staff, along with the manager, did everything they could. ‘I’m very disappointed when any hospitality facility in Zadar is mentioned this way. We will strive to make our guests feel welcome always.’ An investigation is ongoing.

