Assailants attacked gay and transgender rights activists and torched a rainbow flag at a small rally in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.

Law enforcement officials said on May 18 that two police officers were hospitalized after police tried to disperse a group of about 30 assailants in the center of the eastern city.

Video footage from the May 17 violence showed young men dressed in black attacking activists and fighting with police officers, one of whom holds his hand to his bloodied head and says he was hit with a rock or a brick.

At one point, an assailant uses a cigarette lighter to torch a rainbow flag -- a symbol of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) rights -- and holds it as it burns.

Kharkiv police said on Facebook that four of the assailants were detained and could be charged with violence against law enforcement authorities. Read more via VOA