The first Gay Pride parade in the Polish city of Bialystok has been overshadowed by violence. A group of suspected hooligans attacked the approximately 800 participants in the march yesterday with stones, Böllern and bottles, police said. The officials who secured the move were also attacked.
It was the first time that people in the city in north-eastern Poland took to the streets for the rights of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transsexuals (LGBT). The demonstrators waved rainbow flags and banners with inscriptions like „Love is not a sin“. Catholic and nationalist groups organized around 40 counter-demonstrations in Bialystok.
Dealing with the LGBT community is a controversial topic in the traditionally Catholic country before the parliamentary election in the fall. Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the head of Poland’s right-wing nationalist ruling party Law and Justice (PiS), described homosexuals as a „threat“ to his country in April.
