A group of
unidentified assailants attacked a gay pride parade in the
Estonian capital of Tallinn on Saturday, beating
participants and throwing stones and sticks at them,
injuring about 15 people, organizers said. The start
of the parade was also delayed by some 20 minutes due to
a bomb threat made before the event.
The parade of about 500 people was making its
way through Tallinn's Old Town when a group of about
30 people attacked the march, said Lisette Kampus,
spokeswoman of Tallinn Pride, which was organizing the
parade. A French man participating in the march was
rushed to hospital with a head injury, while others
received first aid treatment at the scene for minor
injuries, Kampus said, adding that although police tried to
intervene, they were "too slow to react" and were understaffed.
"This was a very ugly incident," she said,
adding that there had been no problems in the parades
during the past two years.
In July, the city council of Riga in neighboring
Latvia cited security concerns and canceled what would
have been that country's first gay pride parade. The
parade's Latvian organizer said it would sue the city council.
"We really wanted to believe that Estonia is
somehow different, a Nordic country instead of an
Eastern European country, but unfortunately today
shows us very strongly that we are not ready to knock on the
Scandinavian doors," Kampus said. (AP)
