KIEV, Ukraine -- Ukraine's LGBT community and civil rights activists overcame a flurry of violent attacks with smoke bombs and stones to carry out the country's second-ever "Equality March" in Kiev on Saturday.
At least 10 participants were reportedly wounded, along with five police officers, including one seriously.
To get to Saturday's march, participants had to have someone vouch for their character before being told the secret location of a parade that would last for less than an hour along a typically quiet 300-meter stretch on a promenade in a residential district north of this capital's bustling center.
They were bused in, 200 or so of them, and walled off by over 1,000 police in riot gear to prevent lurking ultranationalists and religious groups who wanted to attack them even before they took their first steps.
Here we go! #KyivPride pic.twitter.com/pwOqPCYNw0— Maksym Filipenko (@maxfdn) June 6, 2015
It is not how Ukraine's LGBT community and activists would prefer to hold a pride event. But faced with threats of violence, it was the only way Ukrainian activists could have held the country’s second pride parade on the streets of the capital -- the first since the Euromaidan revolution of 2014 and with a European-leaning leader running the country.
On Friday, President Petro Poroshenko took the historic step of becoming the first Ukrainian head of state to voice support for LGBT rights when he said the marchers had "a constitutional right" to assemble. He promised police protection for them.
Yesterday president @poroshenko pledged for police protection of today's #KyivPride. We will hold him to this promise. #Ukraine— Bogdan Ovcharuk (@goddan) June 6, 2015
Сотни сотрудников милиции охраняют КиевПрайд. Пока спокойно pic.twitter.com/l6WkiVN8Xu— Leshchenko (@Leshchenkos) June 6, 2015
At the march, Sergey, a 29-year-old activist and geologist who declined to give his last name for fear of repercussions from far-right groups, told Mashable that he came to the march "in solidarity with one of the most oppressed groups in Ukraine."
"I think this march is very important [for Ukrainian society]," he said, adding that it would help highlight the LGBT community's struggle for equal rights in the country.
Diana Slisarchuk, 31, arrived Saturday not in her usual capacity of journalist, but as an activist. She said it was important to prove wrong Kiev Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko, who said earlier this week that a gay pride parade during wartime is "bad timing."
"It is always the right time [to support] human rights, and we have to show him this," she said.
The participants were supported by the Swedish ambassador to Ukraine, Andreas von Beckerath, as well as the Russian-American author and activist Masha Gessen.
.@mashagessen at #kyivpride2015 #kyivpride to support #Ukraine LGBT community pic.twitter.com/OOfsjf77Z6— Nataliya Gumenyuk (@ngumenyuk) June 6, 2015
At least two members of Ukraine's parliament, including the investigative journalist-turned-politician Serhiy Leshchenko, attended the march. No Ukrainian officials were present for the first march in May 2013.
First ever #Ukraine MPs to attend a #lgbt civil rights rally: @Leshchenkos and Svitlana Zalischuk #kyivpride pic.twitter.com/QJYI0EIZHc— Maxim Eristavi (@MaximEristavi) June 6, 2015
There were several altercations over the course of about an hour, including one involving firecrackers heaved toward the marchers.
Kyiv Pride #Kyiv Pride pic.twitter.com/d6JrIVYxzU— Kristina Berdynskykh (@berdynskykh_k) June 6, 2015
Leshchenko tweeted that "hooligans" managed to toss five to 10 of them at the march before baton-wielding police fought the group back.
At least five police officers were injured. They received treatment from Red Cross medical workers. Amnesty International's Bogdan Ovcharuk said one officer was badly wounded in the neck, while 10 activists had been injured. He said police detained 30 attackers.
Police arrested at least 30 anti #LGBT protesters in #Kyiv #KyivPride pic.twitter.com/98G1YCB1SU— Bogdan Ovcharuk (@goddan) June 6, 2015
A Mashable reporter saw one man lunge toward marchers with a hunting knife, as others shouted hateful slurs. Police moved quickly to quell the violence, detaining several of the antagonizers.
One of them told Mashable as he was being dragged by officers to a police van that he came out to confront the activists because he hates LGBT people. He used a particularly derogatory term to describe them.
Despite the violent interruptions, the activists proudly marched on.
#KyivPride marches onward despite brief and bloody clashes between police and ultra-rights. pic.twitter.com/EYloXqrDuB— Dan Peleschuk (@dpeleschuk) June 6, 2015
While they went just a few hundred meters, activists said Saturday's parade marked an important step forward for LGBT people in Ukraine.
"It is somewhat embarrassing that we have to hide in our own country, march on a concrete promenade on the edge of the city and be protected by a police cordon," said 27-year-old activist Denis Panin. "But we did it."
Ukraine changes. #LGBTpride took place today in Kyiv. Post-Maidan's Ukraine made additional step toward European values— Leshchenko (@Leshchenkos) June 6, 2015