28 June 2008, Saturday
Sofia News Agency
More than 60 persons have been arrested by the police for trying to attack and harass the participants in the gay pride parade, which took place in Sofia Saturday afternoon.
The arrested are mostly representatives of the skin heads and other extremist groups, who were throwing stones, bottles, squibs, and even Molotov cocktails at the procession.
The massive presence of the police, who were about as many as the participants in the parade - 150, however, prevented the hooligans from doing harm to any of the homosexuals and their supporters, and no one has been reported injured.
The leader of the nationalist extremists Bulgarian National Union Boyan Rasate has also been arrested, allegedly for taking part in the attempted violence.
According to some accounts, Rasate's five-year old daughter, whom he brought with him to the anti-rally, was left alone and helpless after he was arrested and thrown in the back of one of the police cars.
Over the last week Rasate's BNU had been among the strongest opponents of the gay parade, and even launched a campaign under the motto: "Be Intolerant, Be Normal" with posters spread all over Sofia.
Meanwhile, many of those who accompanied the arrested persons, complained of police violence against their friends.
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150 Take Part in Bulgaria's First Gay Pride Parade in Sofia
28 June 2008, Saturday
http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=94618
About 150 people participated Saturday afternoon in Bulgaria's first ever gay pride parade, which took place in the capital Sofia.
The official motto of the event organized the union of Bulgarian gay men and women "Gemini" was: "My Family - We Are Mothers and Daughters, Fathers and Sons, Brothers and Sisters".
The procession started at the Love Bridge behind the National Palace of Culture and proceeded down the Evlogi Georgiev, which is one of the most congested streets in downtown Sofia anyway, eventually its destination the Center for Culture and Debate known as the "Red House"
located at 15 Lyuben Karavelov street.
The representatives of the Gemini Organization wore shirts saying "The Communists Kiss at Official Meetings". People with different sexual orientation also took part in the event with slogans stating: "Beware of whom you hate, it might be someone you love".
None of the participants really displayed their homosexual orientation in any aggressive way.
The some 150 participants were guarded by just as many - 150 - policemen with a number of armored police cars, who prevented successfully efforts to harass the people from the parade.
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Images: http://netinfo.bg/photo/2008.28.06parad
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ksp7Bz6Z-NI&e
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