Some 70% of gay men and woman have been subjected to verbal or physical attacks because of their sexual orientation but most of them do not report the incident to the authorities, according to government research published on Wednesday.

Some 70% of attacks were verbal while 30% involved threatening behaviour or actual violence, the survey showed. Most of the perpetrators are young men operating in groups and at least a third are under the age of 18. Younger attackers are more likely to use physical violence.
Analysis of actual reports made to the police in the first six months of this year show 86% of the perpetrators are native white Dutch people and 14% from the ethnic minorities. Other research carried out by the University of Amsterdam last year showed 36% of the attackers were native Dutch – reflecting their share of the city’s juvenile population.
From 2011, the Netherlands will have a public prosecution department official dedicated to cases involving discrimination.