Thousands march as Warsaw holds Eastern Europe's first EuroPride

Warsaw - Eastern Europe yesterday saw the first ever Europride parade event take place in the Polish capital with an estimated 10,000 people taking part.

Five years ago, the then mayor of Warsaw the late Lech Kaczynski wouldn't grant a permit allow the Europride parade to take place in Poland's capital city but yesterday it's reported that between 8,000 and 15,000 people marched through the city streets making it the largest event of this type in Warsaw's history. This is the first time the Europride event has been held in Central or Eastern Europe and saw participants arrive from many countries including Russia, France, Germany, Holland, Switzerland, the USA and the UK to march along side Poland's lesian, gay, bi and transgender community. Warsaw's city police reported only nine arrests and every little trouble overall with any incidents being described as only minor. Police spokesman Maciej Karczynski said, “Some of these individuals attacked the police officers; one of them was detained for drug possession, whereas other offenders were seized for throwing eggs at the parade." Adam Biskupiak, from the Equality Foundation, organizer of the event, said that it was a huge success. He said, “There was no obscene behaviour, no nudity; people were having a great time. There were eleven floats, the participants were dancing and singing to music. The turnout was not as big as we had expected but there were 15,000 people according to unofficial estimates, and we think this is quite a good figure, considering the fact that the parade was held in Poland."