Several members of a pro-life youth ministry group visiting D.C. for Friday’s March for Life rally were attacked by a group of street thugs yelling racial epithets on Wednesday night near the Metro, Fox 5 DC reported. The violent attack began after the two adult chaperones and 22 teens had gotten off the Metro in SE D.C., and were starting the mile walk back to the church where they were staying.

When one of the adult chaperones in the back of the group was attacked, several of the teens attempted to help him. They were met with fists and racial slurs, threatened with a knife, and told to hand over their belongings. The victims ran to a nearby firehouse, where they received help.

The savage attack only lasted about 20 seconds, but that was enough time for the thugs to seriously hurt several of the pro-lifers.

Injuries included a broken nose and fractured eye socket, according to a member of the group. He told Fox 5 that the adult leader who was attacked had “some type of concussion,” adding that “he just remembers having dinner — details are fuzzy after that.”

The youth group visiting from Fort Worth, Texas says they are familiar with where they are staying in Southeast, D.C., because they have stayed at the Assumption Catholic Church for the past three years. But it wasn’t until Wednesday night that they’ve ever had an issue. The violent encounter was enough to make the ministry group reconsider their routine while staying at the church.

They won’t be walking from the metro stop back to church past sunset, Fox 5 reported. But despite the violent incident, they said they’d still attend the rally at the National Mall for the March for Life on Friday.

“Nobody’s going to rob us of that joy, the true meaning of why we’re here — to celebrate life,” the group member said. “Even when something horrible like that happens — we’re still going to be joyful,” he said.

There have been no arrests in the case.