This year, many more people took part in the “March of Equality” in Kyiv than in the past, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
According to the police, the number of participants was 3,5 thousand people, the organizers claim 5 thousand participants, while last year 2,5 thousand people came to the event. The march also included human rights activists, feminists and sex workers, who are organizing their own public protests.
Just like a year ago, the ultra-right, under Lozueg’s defense of the “traditional family” and against “Western liberal values,” tried to prevent the march by blocking the street along which the procession was supposed to take place, but this time they did not change the route under pressure. The police dispersed the crowd of Nazis and detained several dozen people. after that, all approaches to the procession route were blocked.
Despite this, several people penetrated the police cordons and several times tried to interfere with the event by running ahead of the column, but the police pulled them away. “Look, this is a peaceful protest!” – one of the detainees shouted. “They want everyone to do this, for all Ukrainians to be like this. Friends, stop!” - said another.
As the procession approached its end point on Leo Tolstoy Square, three far-right activists walked at the head of the column, shouting slogans against the gay pride parade: “Ukraine is not Sodom!” The column hooted and shouted at them with its slogans: “Human rights are above all!”, “I have the right to love and to live freely!” The police removed the rightists from the column.
Apart from these incidents, the march was peaceful. In addition to LGBT people, members of several NGOs, in particular Amnesty International, took part in it. Some participants brought children and pets with them.
For the safety of the Equality March, the nearest metro stations were closed from early morning. Last year, some marchers were beaten as they left. To prevent this from happening this time, the metro allocated special trains to transport those leaving the event, which picked them up from the Leo Tolstoy Square station; regular trains passed through this station without stopping.