Wilfred de Bruijn is from the Netherlands. He has been living in Paris since 2003, where he works as a librarian.

On Sunday, around 3:30 a.m., my friend Olivier and I were leaving a party in the 19th arondissement. We were walking arm in arm down rue des Ardennes, when we were suddenly attacked. We didn’t see them coming. I don’t remember anything — I woke up in an ambulance, soaked in blood.

Olivier, however, did not lose consciousness. He told me he heard someone yelling something like: “Look at these fags!” and that he was hit right in the face. His eyes were covered in blood so he could not see his attackers well, but he thinks there were three or four of them. He could also see me lying on the pavement while my attackers kicked me, hard, in the face.

As a result, my lip was torn, a front tooth broken, and I suffered seven skull fractures, especially on the right side of my face, around the eyes and nose. I vomited a lot of blood. I suppose I was lucky: I don’t have any brain or eye damage.

“I am overwhelmed by the reactions that my photo has provoked”

When we left the hospital, I asked Olivier to take a picture of me. Later, in the afternoon, I got the idea of uploading it to Facebook. We talked about it a lot - we wondered whether it was too shocking or exhibitionistic. But we told ourselves that, after all, all it showed was the truth. Our attack is unfortunately far from being an isolated case.

I am overwhelmed by the reactions that my photo has provoked. The mayor of the 19th arrondissement called me, and the police came to my apartment to pick us up and drive us to the station to file a complaint, which we did. I have also received very touching messages from around the world, from Brazil to South Africa…

The police are looking for someone who saw the attack and who in fact called the police, in the hopes that they might be able to identify the attackers. They also told us they would analyse surveillance camera footage from the area.

“Saturday night, for once, we let our guard down”

I had already been verbally attacked in the street, but never physically. Of course, like all my other gay friends, I’m careful — we avoid holding hands in the subway, and we kiss each other on the cheeks, not on the lips. But on Saturday evening, Olivier and I were in the middle of an interesting conversation, we were in a good mood, and for once, we let our guard down.