Brutal attack prompts Spanish PM to hold hate crime meeting

MADRID (AP) — Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is convening an urgent meeting of a committee that oversees efforts to fight hate crime after hooded attackers beat a 20-year-old man in Madrid and used a knife to carve a profanity on one of his buttocks. A government spokesperson said Tuesday that Sánchez wants to “take a personal lead” on the issue. Activist groups say attacks on LGBTQ people are increasing in Spain and announced plans to hold street protests in coming days. The activists claim that official statistics capture only a fraction of the problem because many incidents aren’t reported.