About 150 people gathered Sunday to protest the beating of a gay man at the hands of a marine in Savanna, Savanna Morning News reported.

The rally was held at Johnson Square near where Kieran Daly was struck on Saturday, June 12.

At about 4AM, Savanna police arrested and booked two marines on a misdemeanor charge of battery. The men, both stationed at Marine Corps Air Station in Beaufort, S.C., were later released to Marine police, who are also considering charges. The FBI has reportedly launched a preliminary investigation into whether federal charges as a hate crime should be pursued in the case.

Responding to a call, police found 26-year-old Daly laying motionless on the ground as friends performed first aid. Witnesses said Daly was attacked because he is gay.

Moments earlier, police had witnessed two men matching the description of the attackers running on Congress Lane. According to a police report, officers caught up with Keil Joseph Cronauer, 22, and Christopher Charles Stanzel, 23, after they had climbed into a fenced-off parking lot off Congress Lane. Cronauer told police they “were being harassed by a white homosexual male earlier in the evening and just wanted to get away and meet their friend on Bay St.” But Stanzel said “he was going to meet a friend on River St.”

Witnesses told police that one of the men grew angry because he thought Daly was winking at him. He struck Daly in the back of the head with his fist, knocking him unconscious.

Daly claims his attacker yelled anti-gay slurs at him as he tried to walk away from an argument with Cronauer over whether Daly was coming on to the marine.

At the rally, Kevin Clark, who heads the Savannah chapter of Georgia Equality, said the attack was only the latest in a long string of violence against the LGBT community.

“It's important to realize the attack on Kieran was not the only one,” Clark said. “There have been many, many, many more.”

Daly, who did not attend the rally but said he was grateful for the support in a statement, was diagnosed with bruises to the brain and suffered seizures from the attack. Doctors have advised the truck driver not to return to work. Daly is expected to meet with Savannah police Monday for a second interview.