NEW YORK — Two men were arrested in connection with the beating of two gay men in Manhattan early Friday and police are investigating whether there is a link to an earlier anti-gay attack in the same area on Sunday.
Friday’s attack happened at 5 a.m. after two gay men tried to enter an after-hours billiard club and were denied entry, said Steve Coleman, a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
The two were approached by a group of about five men who shouted anti-gay slurs and beat them, Coleman said.
He said the gay men tried to flee but the attackers followed them to the entrance to the 33rd Street PATH station, where Port Authority officers saw the assault and broke it up.
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Several of the attackers fled but officers arrested two suspects.
Asllan Berisha and Brian Ramirez, both 21, were arrested on charges of felony assault as a hate crime. No information on attorneys for the suspects was immediately available.
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The earlier attack happened a few blocks away on Eighth Avenue near 34th street. Police said four men yelled anti-gay slurs at two men, pushed them to the ground and began punching one of them in the face.
No one has been arrested in the earlier attack. Police are trying to determine if the two attacks are linked.
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