Hundreds in Masnou protest attack on youth migrant center

Up to 500 people took to the streets on Monday evening in the seaside town of El Masnou, just north of Barcelona, in support of social coexistence and against xenophobia and sexism.

The protest was in response to an attack on the town's youth migrant center following an attempted sexual assault on a local girl by a young migrant a few days earlier.

Thursday's attack on the center that hosts underage unaccompanied migrants left five people injured, four residents and a Catalan police officer.

The attack on the center came after a march to protest the attempted sexual assault, with the authorities later confirming that a small far-right group was behind the attack. 

The attempted assault took place during the town's local summer festival, but the aggressor was discouraged by his companions, all residents at the center, and detained by police. 

Monday's march ended in a town square, where a manifesto was read out condemning sexual aggression and insisting that criminalizing young migrants is "racist and xenophobic."