LGBT+ people in Poland are called ‘a plague’ and compared to Hitler. Should UEFA have put the Europa League… – The Athletic

Every Wednesday evening, Andrzej Tokarski heads to his local park in Gdansk, named after the former US president Ronald Reagan, and sets up his weekly outdoor fitness session.

His workouts are aimed, predominantly, to be a welcoming space for members of the LGBT community. Yet the atmosphere was warm and the event became wider-reaching. A female friend brought along her young daughter. A couple of senior citizens joined in. The workouts brought together different generations in an inclusive way.

One evening in March, however, they were ambushed. More than two dozen men, sporting balaclavas and dressed in plain clothes, stormed the session. Tokarski suffered a broken tooth and a spinal injury. He was one of two members of the fitness group whose injuries required hospital treatment.

Speaking to The Athletic over Zoom, Tokarski says: “We were beaten and scared to death. Two of us were in hospital, the rest managed to escape.