The number of incidents of anti-gay violence in the Netherlands doubled to 1,143 between 2011 and 2012, according to figures from the Verwey-Jonker Instituut and quoted by ANP.

Homosexual pressure group COC wants the police and justice ministry to give greater priority to anti-gay violence. The incidents registered range from swearing and spitting to physical attacks, ANP says.

The institute, which carries out research into social issues, says the increase is partly due to more cases being reported.

Police

A police report published in January said there were 769 instances of actual violence against gay people between the beginning of 2009 and September last year, the equivalent of around three cases a week.

The report states six out of 10 instances took place in Amsterdam, where police have being paying extra attention to the problem following several high profile cases.

Some 17% of cases reported involved threats of physical violence, 31% minor physical attacks and 6.7% serious attacks, the report shows. The rest were categorised as muggings and fights. Six out of 10 perpetrators were Dutch nationals.