Last year, armed with a court ruling that the ban on the 2006 parade was unconstitutional, more than 500 GLBT people marched inside Vermanes Park under heavy police protection, dodging only a paint bomb, an ice-cream cone and a few firecrackers.
In 2006, after the City Council banned the parade, organizers held a service at a church and meetings at a hotel. The attendees were attacked by Christian, ultranationalist and neo-Nazi protesters who pelted them with eggs, rotten food and feces.
In 2005, about 150 marchers attempted to march in the streets. They were outnumbered by around 1,000 anti-gay protesters who hurled insults, bottles and rotten eggs; blocked the streets; and forced the parade to be rerouted. The protesters chanted ”No sodomy” and ”Gays fuck the nation.”
The move to again fence in Pride was criticized by the director of the Latvian Human Rights Center, Ilze Brands-Kehre, who accused the government of interfering with freedom of assembly.
Uppdaterad 2016-11-16
