Hundreds of people walked hand-in-hand through Amsterdam to demonstrate solidarity with a gay couple who were beaten up in the Dutch city of Arnhem.

The march was part of a national outcry over the beating of the married men by a group of young people.

The men said that the confrontation began because they were holding hands in public.

Five teenage suspects will be charged on Thursday with causing serious bodily harm, prosecutors said, adding that they are still looking into the motive for the attack.

Marcher Marion van Hees, 68, said she campaigned for gay rights in the sixties, and said: "I thought we were finished with it, that we had achieved it. But that is not the case, and that is very sad.

"So I'm going back onto the barricades."

Sjag Kozak, 42, an Israeli who married his husband in Amsterdam and has lived in the city for 21 years, was also marching.

He said he wanted to show solidarity with the couple, but also "to show the world that it is possible to walk hand-in-hand in Amsterdam."