Amsterdam Pride canal parade draws huge crowds under tight security
Amsterdam's canal boat parade drew vast crowds under heightened security during World Pride. The celebrations reflected both solidarity after the Berlin attack and renewed concern over rising anti-LGBTQ+ violence.
Hundreds of thousands of people lined Amsterdam's canals on Saturday for the city's canal boat parade, the main event of its annual Pride festival, which this year came a week after a deadly attack on a Pride event in Berlin.
The parade unfolded under heightened security, with police motorboats on the canals and a helicopter overhead. The event also coincided with a World Pride celebration being hosted by the Dutch capital.
Openly gay Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten, dressed in a white shirt, black life vest and gold necklace, waved to crowds as he sailed in a small boat through the colourfully decorated parade of 80 vessels. He waved to participants and spectators as techno music played from speakers along the route.
The Amsterdam event came a week after the Berlin attack, in which one person was killed and 29 others were injured. A suspect, Abdul Ballout, was suspected of driving a van into a crowd near the festival on Saturday night before apparently stabbing others with a machete in what authorities believe was an Islamic extremist attack.
Authorities said Ballout was shot dead by police during a confrontation on Sunday in a suburb of the city. Prosecutors said he had previously sought to join the militant Islamic State group.
After the attack in Germany, Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema said authorities in the city would "where necessary take extra measures that visitors will hopefully notice as little as possible." Hamburg's Pride parade, one of Germany's biggest, also began on Saturday with increased security. Dozens of trucks moved through the centre of Germany's second-biggest city, where organisers expected about 250,000 people. Hamburg's police chief had said earlier this week that roughly twice as many officers as last year would protect the event.
The boat parade is the traditional highlight of Amsterdam's Pride. This year, it coincided with World Pride in the city.
Rod Lugtenburg, 55, from Toronto, said he had travelled to Amsterdam for World Pride. Standing on the city's Skinny Bridge in a T-shirt with a rainbow maple leaf as the boats passed, he said, "For me, it's about acceptance, being able to be who you are."
He added, "I have Dutch heritage and I have always loved the fact that the Dutch have been leading the way" in acceptance and rights for the LGBTQ+ community. "And Canada is right behind them, so I'm very proud."
The celebrations took place against a backdrop of rising reports of verbal and physical assaults on members of the LGBTQ+ community in the Netherlands, a country long seen as a haven of tolerance. On Friday, a court in Amsterdam convicted a man of using discriminatory language at a Pride event in the city earlier in the week and ordered him to do 40 hours of community service.
Boats in the parade represented Dutch government ministries, the military, the police, LGBTQ+ organisations and clubs. The Netherlands LGBTQ+ rights group COC, which is marking its 80th anniversary this year, had a boat carrying a manifesto calling for progress in the fight for human rights for LGBTQ+ people in the Netherlands. It also carried a portrait of activist Marsha P Johnson, who took part in the Stonewall rebellion when patrons at the New York inn resisted a police raid on June 28, 1969, an event that helped usher in a new, militant phase of the movement for gay rights.
As Amsterdam hosted its Pride boat parade alongside World Pride, the event drew huge crowds, visible security measures and calls for continued progress on LGBTQ+ rights, while also reflecting the wider concerns over recent violence and assaults.
With PTI Inputs
Hundreds of thousands of people lined Amsterdam's canals on Saturday for the city's canal boat parade, the main event of its annual Pride festival, which this year came a week after a deadly attack on a Pride event in Berlin.
The parade unfolded under heightened security, with police motorboats on the canals and a helicopter overhead. The event also coincided with a World Pride celebration being hosted by the Dutch capital.
Openly gay Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten, dressed in a white shirt, black life vest and gold necklace, waved to crowds as he sailed in a small boat through the colourfully decorated parade of 80 vessels. He waved to participants and spectators as techno music played from speakers along the route.
The Amsterdam event came a week after the Berlin attack, in which one person was killed and 29 others were injured. A suspect, Abdul Ballout, was suspected of driving a van into a crowd near the festival on Saturday night before apparently stabbing others with a machete in what authorities believe was an Islamic extremist attack.
Authorities said Ballout was shot dead by police during a confrontation on Sunday in a suburb of the city. Prosecutors said he had previously sought to join the militant Islamic State group.
After the attack in Germany, Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema said authorities in the city would "where necessary take extra measures that visitors will hopefully notice as little as possible." Hamburg's Pride parade, one of Germany's biggest, also began on Saturday with increased security. Dozens of trucks moved through the centre of Germany's second-biggest city, where organisers expected about 250,000 people. Hamburg's police chief had said earlier this week that roughly twice as many officers as last year would protect the event.
The boat parade is the traditional highlight of Amsterdam's Pride. This year, it coincided with World Pride in the city.
Rod Lugtenburg, 55, from Toronto, said he had travelled to Amsterdam for World Pride. Standing on the city's Skinny Bridge in a T-shirt with a rainbow maple leaf as the boats passed, he said, "For me, it's about acceptance, being able to be who you are."
He added, "I have Dutch heritage and I have always loved the fact that the Dutch have been leading the way" in acceptance and rights for the LGBTQ+ community. "And Canada is right behind them, so I'm very proud."
The celebrations took place against a backdrop of rising reports of verbal and physical assaults on members of the LGBTQ+ community in the Netherlands, a country long seen as a haven of tolerance. On Friday, a court in Amsterdam convicted a man of using discriminatory language at a Pride event in the city earlier in the week and ordered him to do 40 hours of community service.
Boats in the parade represented Dutch government ministries, the military, the police, LGBTQ+ organisations and clubs. The Netherlands LGBTQ+ rights group COC, which is marking its 80th anniversary this year, had a boat carrying a manifesto calling for progress in the fight for human rights for LGBTQ+ people in the Netherlands. It also carried a portrait of activist Marsha P Johnson, who took part in the Stonewall rebellion when patrons at the New York inn resisted a police raid on June 28, 1969, an event that helped usher in a new, militant phase of the movement for gay rights.
As Amsterdam hosted its Pride boat parade alongside World Pride, the event drew huge crowds, visible security measures and calls for continued progress on LGBTQ+ rights, while also reflecting the wider concerns over recent violence and assaults.
With PTI Inputs
Hundreds of thousands of people lined Amsterdam's canals on Saturday for the city's canal boat parade, the main event of its annual Pride festival, which this year came a week after a deadly attack on a Pride event in Berlin.
The parade unfolded under heightened security, with police motorboats on the canals and a helicopter overhead. The event also coincided with a World Pride celebration being hosted by the Dutch capital.
Openly gay Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten, dressed in a white shirt, black life vest and gold necklace, waved to crowds as he sailed in a small boat through the colourfully decorated parade of 80 vessels. He waved to participants and spectators as techno music played from speakers along the route.
The Amsterdam event came a week after the Berlin attack, in which one person was killed and 29 others were injured. A suspect, Abdul Ballout, was suspected of driving a van into a crowd near the festival on Saturday night before apparently stabbing others with a machete in what authorities believe was an Islamic extremist attack.
Authorities said Ballout was shot dead by police during a confrontation on Sunday in a suburb of the city. Prosecutors said he had previously sought to join the militant Islamic State group.
After the attack in Germany, Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema said authorities in the city would "where necessary take extra measures that visitors will hopefully notice as little as possible." Hamburg's Pride parade, one of Germany's biggest, also began on Saturday with increased security. Dozens of trucks moved through the centre of Germany's second-biggest city, where organisers expected about 250,000 people. Hamburg's police chief had said earlier this week that roughly twice as many officers as last year would protect the event.
The boat parade is the traditional highlight of Amsterdam's Pride. This year, it coincided with World Pride in the city.
Rod Lugtenburg, 55, from Toronto, said he had travelled to Amsterdam for World Pride. Standing on the city's Skinny Bridge in a T-shirt with a rainbow maple leaf as the boats passed, he said, "For me, it's about acceptance, being able to be who you are."
He added, "I have Dutch heritage and I have always loved the fact that the Dutch have been leading the way" in acceptance and rights for the LGBTQ+ community. "And Canada is right behind them, so I'm very proud."
The celebrations took place against a backdrop of rising reports of verbal and physical assaults on members of the LGBTQ+ community in the Netherlands, a country long seen as a haven of tolerance. On Friday, a court in Amsterdam convicted a man of using discriminatory language at a Pride event in the city earlier in the week and ordered him to do 40 hours of community service.
Boats in the parade represented Dutch government ministries, the military, the police, LGBTQ+ organisations and clubs. The Netherlands LGBTQ+ rights group COC, which is marking its 80th anniversary this year, had a boat carrying a manifesto calling for progress in the fight for human rights for LGBTQ+ people in the Netherlands. It also carried a portrait of activist Marsha P Johnson, who took part in the Stonewall rebellion when patrons at the New York inn resisted a police raid on June 28, 1969, an event that helped usher in a new, militant phase of the movement for gay rights.
As Amsterdam hosted its Pride boat parade alongside World Pride, the event drew huge crowds, visible security measures and calls for continued progress on LGBTQ+ rights, while also reflecting the wider concerns over recent violence and assaults.
With PTI Inputs
