Parada Równości
The Parada Równości (German equality parade ) is an annual demonstration in Warsaw for tolerance and equality of gays and lesbians .
target
The aim of the parade is to promote the social and political recognition of homosexuality and to achieve equal rights for gays and lesbians. The organizing association Foundation for Equality is based on Christopher Street Day .
history
For the first time in 1998, three masked people with banners under the Sigismund Column drew attention to themselves.
On May 1, 2001, around 300 people gathered for the first parade with just a rainbow flag and music from a car. It ran from the Sigismund Column to the Nicolaus Copernicus Monument . The following year it counted 1,000 demonstrators. The route was the same as the previous year, but in the opposite direction. In 2003, with the support of Senator Maria Szyszkowska, there were already 3500 participants. This year the parade moved from the Sigismund Column to the Parliament building.
2004
In 2004 the parade was not approved by the then mayor of Warsaw and later President of Poland Lech Kaczyński . There was only one protest rally with 600–1000 people in front of the City Hall in Warsaw.
2005
In 2005 the parade was again banned. Nevertheless, around 3,000 people marched through downtown Warsaw. The demonstration was supported by, among others, Parliament's President Tomasz Nałęcz , who the day before had called on all Warsaw residents to take part in the parade, and Deputy Prime Minister Izabela Jaruga-Nowacka and the German Green Party politicians Claudia Roth , Renate Künast and Volker Beck . There were several violent attacks by right-wing extremist organizations and counter-demonstrations from conservative and Catholic circles. The demonstrators were insulted and pelted with eggs. There were several arrests and injuries. Mayor Kaczyński criticized the police for protecting the participants in the forbidden demonstration and attacking counter-demonstrators.
The city council of Warsaw was found guilty of violating basic human rights through its actions in 2007 by the European Court of Human Rights because of the ban on the parade in 2005 . What is meant here is the right to freedom of assembly .
2006
In 2006, the Parada Równości received a lot of international attention in advance due to the incidents of the past years. As a reaction to the announcement of German politicians that they would support the demonstration by their presence, the vice-chairman of the then ruling party LPR Wojciech Wierzejski called on people to use clubs against them and received a criminal complaint from Claudia Roth. The Foreign Office issued a travel warning to Poland for this weekend due to threats of violence announced.
Celebrities and numerous organizations, such as the Warsaw Pact 2006 and the Antifa , supported the organization of the event. A few days before the demonstration, the parade was approved on June 10, 2006 and the counter-demonstration by the All-Polish youth , which should have gone in the opposite direction, was canceled. Protesters under the protection of 2,000 police officers marched through downtown Warsaw for three hours to Theater Square, where the final rally was held. According to police estimates, there were 3,000 people involved. There were only a few arrests (14 people) and injuries compared to the previous year. Counter-demonstrators from right-wing extremist and ultra-Catholic groups gathered sporadically on the edge of the parade.
2009
According to various sources, several hundred to 1500 participants took part in the Parada Równości on June 13, 2009. The demonstration went without major incidents, but under clear police protection. At the end of the demonstration in front of the Polish parliament building, around a hundred right-wing radicals from the National Radical Camp ONR had gathered and shouted anti-gay slogans, but were shielded by the police from the participants in the Parada Równości.
2018
On June 9, 2018, the 18th edition of the Parada Równości took place in Warsaw. The organizers estimated the number of participants at 50,000. According to the police, about 13,000 people took part in the parade. They demonstrated for the rights of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people. The march was also directed against discrimination against ethnic and religious minorities and the disabled.
Differences to the CSD
Like the CSD, the Parada Równości sees itself as a festival of homosexuals in addition to its political demands. Carriages with musical sound are also involved in the move. While Christopher Street Day is often criticized as a commercial event with no serious political background, the Parada Równości is undisputed because of the lack of acceptance of gays and lesbians.
Web links
- Official website (German, Polish, English)
- Homepage Europride2010 which will take place in July 2010 in Warsaw
- Parade of the forbidden taz on June 13, 2005
- Scandal over Poland's President Hamburger Abendblatt on March 10, 2006
- Polish homosexuals demonstrate for their rights. (tagesschau.de archive) ARD Tagesschau from June 10, 2006
- Homosexuals demonstrate in Warsaw. ZDF today from June 10, 2006
- Poland's gays and lesbians dare to take to the streets Report in "Das Polen-Magazin" about the Parada Rownosci from 13 June 2009
- Bieler Tagblatt online: "Parade of Equality in Poland" Bieler Tagblatt from June 13, 2009
Individual evidence
- ^ Parada Równości 2003 w Warszawie: Wielki sukces . queer.pl. Retrieved January 21, 2013.
- ^ Wiec Wolności . ngo.pl. Retrieved January 21, 2013.
- ↑ Wiec Wolności czy Wiec przedwyborczy? . ngo.pl. June 12, 2004. Retrieved January 21, 2013.
- ^ Judgment of the European Court of Human Rights against the State of Poland, English
- ^ Parada Równości na bis . e-polityka.pl. May 4, 2007. Retrieved January 21, 2013.
- ↑ Konrad Schuller: The taste of the stick , Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, May 17, 2006
- ↑ a b c Warszawa - Parada Równości . Policja.pl. June 10, 2006. Retrieved January 21, 2013.
- ↑ Thousands demonstrate for tolerance , tagesschau.de, June 9, 2018