Police officer have arrested three teens for an attack on a gay man in Amsterdam Oost, the third such attack in a month in the area.

The man was canoeing with his partner on a canal in Cruquiuseiland when three boys aged fourteen and fifteen started calling them names. On confronting them on shore the man was stabbed in the arm with a piece of glass by one of the fourteen year-olds. All three then fled the scene.

The man needed medical treatment and was taken to hospital by ambulance. The boys, known troublemakers, police said, were quickly apprehended.

‘We are taking this very seriously indeed,’ a police spokesman told Amsterdam broadcaster AT5. ‘We are currently investigating if more boys are involved.’ The man will be reporting the incident, he said.

Earlier this month, two attacks on the same gay couple prompted calls from local politicians for increased penalties for hate crimes against gays and a bigger police presence in the area, the Parool reported.