Polish gay rights
supporters threatened with prison for defying parade
ban

Dozens of gay rights activists could face fines or prison sentences of up to a month for rallying in Poznan, Poland, this weekend in defiance of a city ban on their Equality March, authorities said Sunday. In the latest standoff between an increasingly active gay rights movement and authorities in this staunchly Roman Catholic nation, a few hundred activists staged a demonstration in the western city of Poznan on Saturday, although police had blocked their planned parade route. Sixty-eight activists could face fines of up to $1,500 or up to one month in prison, said Miroslaw Adamski, spokesman for the district prosecutor's office in Poznan. A spokesman for city police, Andrzej Borwiak, also told the PAP news agency that about a dozen aggressive counterdemonstrators were arrested. Some of them threw eggs and chanted slogans such as "We are going to do with you what Hitler did with the Jews," PAP reported. The Equality March was organized as part of a daylong festival in Poznan devoted to promoting tolerance. On Tuesday local authorities banned Saturday's march on the grounds that it posed a "danger to life, health, and property." Poland--a conservative country that joined the European Union last year--has been grappling with the issue of how far to go in accepting homosexuality. Gay rights rallies in Poland have drawn protesters in past years, often resulting in violent clashes.