Pride parades through London

Last updated at 17:34 01 July 2006


Tens of thousands of men, women and children turned out on the streets of London today for a parade marking the culmination of Europe's largest gay and lesbian festival.

Streets in the centre of the city were closed as marchers, floats, dancers and bands led the EuroPride procession through the heart of the capital.

Thousands of spectators lined the route as the parade wound its way from Baker Street, along Oxford Street and Regent Street towards Trafalgar Square.

Marchers at the front of the procession carried a giant rainbow flag stretching down the road.

They were followed by representatives of the Navy - who unlike their Army and Air Force colleagues were given permission to march in uniform - the police, trade unions and human rights groups.

There were dozens of colourful floats, including one for oil giant Shell's gay employees, decked out in huge red and yellow flags, and a Routemaster bus painted pink.

Dancers walked alongside the floats dressed in sparkling carnival outfits complete with England flags.

London Mayor Ken Livingstone, who led the parade to cheers from the crowd, said he was delighted to have EuroPride marching through the streets of London.

"What this shows as we march through the city of London - one of the greatest cities on earth - is a city can be a wonderful place to live in with people of every race, religion and sexuality."

He acknowledged there was still a long way to go for gay rights, both in those countries where homosexuality remained illegal and here in the UK, where homophobia still existed in parts of society including schools and churches.

"We're almost there in many parts of the world, but other parts of the world are still far behind," he said.

Lord of the Rings star Sir Ian McKellen, who was also at the head of the parade, said there were good things and bad things for the gay community about London, where barman Jody Dobrowski was murdered in a homophobic attack on Clapham Common last year.

But he said: "It's wonderful for the people on the march to bear witness and feel good about themselves and to do that in public is splendid.

"You can see a lot of love and friendship on this march."

Organisers were expecting up to half a million people for the parade and the rally following it in Trafalgar Square.

Along with a star-studded variety performance at the Royal Albert Hall tomorrow, the event is the culmination of the two-week EuroPride festival which is hosted by a different city each year.

A Scotland Yard spokeswoman said around 40,000 people had turned out for the parade.

Organiser Jason Pollock, chief executive of Pride London which had won the bid to hold the annual European parade in the city, said the festival was attracting 750,000 people to the capital.

"It shows to the world what London is - the world's most diverse, gay-friendly city and it's also extremely economically beneficial," he said.

Andrea Kalavsky, 25, a South African Czech who has been living in London for four years, said the atmosphere was incredible.

"This is my first time ever and I had no idea what to expect. I'm really impressed with the crowd, people have been a lot more friendly than I thought."

She added that the first thing she noticed when she came to London was how gay-friendly the city was.

As the sea of union jack flags in shades of pink and red rounded the corner of Waterloo Place, the crowd's whistles, cheers, music and shouts drowned out the handful of Christian protesters waving placards with Biblical quotes, who had been penned into a small area by police.

Gay rights activist Peter Tatchell said: "This is the first Pride since we have had same sex civil partnerships. It's a big, important advance and redresses some of the injustices."

But he said it was not equality, which would only be achieved with same sex marriages - the "next big battle" for gay rights.

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