Pride March in Romania Attacked by Conservative Protesters

A group of hundreds of people participating in the Iasi Pride march on Sunday afternoon in the largest city in eastern Romania were attacked by conservative and religious protesters.

The parade, organised by the Rise OUT Association for the second time this year, saw hundreds of people march towards the city centre, while they were attacked by a group of dozens of people mostly dressed in white T-shirts and wearing religious symbols.

The anti-Pride protesters chanted "Iasi is not Sodom", a reference to the legendary city that according to the Bible was destroyed by God because of wickedness. They then attacked the Pride marchers by throwing eggs and setting off flares.

The marchers responded by shouting: "Shame on you!"

A police Gendarmerie bus separated the two groups along the route of the march, and officers were deployed to prevent tensions from escalating further.

Romanian Orthodox Church clergy have spoken out against the Pride march. Representatives of the Archdiocese of Iasi argued that the first Sunday after June 1 is a special one for Christian families, as it was consecrated by the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church as the 'Sunday of Fathers and Children'

The march's organisers responded that they did not intentionally cause offence.

"We respect the rights of all, including religious rights, and the intent of the Iasi Pride 2022 march is to create visibility for the LGBTQ community and people often marginalised by the authorities and wronged by national law," they said.

Reactions in Romania to the march were divided.

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