UK and Sweden Show Official Support for Riga Gay Pride
‘No Pride’ protestors turn up at wrong venue
RIGA, June 1, 2007 — Support for Riga Friendship Days and Gay Pride has come today from the British Ambassador, the Chief of Staff of the Swedish Navy and an MEP — all hoping for a “celebration’ when the main event, the parade, takes place in Vermanes Park on Sunday.
But the anti-gay ‘No Pride’ group became a victim of its own pressure today when demonstrators turned up at the Riga Conference Centre where the conference, Family Models: Diversity and Equality, was scheduled to take place.
The Centre cancelled the booking yesterday under pressure from ‘No Pride’ and the conference, funded by the European Union, went ahead at a nearby hotel without interruption of distractions.
At a reception this evening in the Reval Hotel, Ian Bond, the British Ambassador, expressed support for the events over the four-day Pride.
“I am more and more confident that Sunday’s parade will be peaceful,