Tens of thousands of people took part in a massive annual Pride march in Paris on Saturday, with LGBT rights groups saying they feared discrimination would occur if the country’s elections brought a far-right government to power.
France is holding the first round of parliamentary elections on Sunday in which opinion polls suggest the far-right National Rally (RN) party could take power. The second round will take place on July 7.
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin sent a letter to police and local authorities on Friday calling for increased security around LGBT events, including Paris Pride, saying there had been an increase in discriminatory acts and “political and regional hostility” targeting such events.
Human rights group InterLGBT and other human rights organisations called on people to march in large numbers on Saturday to oppose far-right ideology and defend LGBTQIA+ rights.
RN did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
The socially conservative, anti-immigration party has previously said it has no ties to violent far-right groups and has voted against bills that would give more rights to LGBTQIA+ groups, including in the European Parliament.
“Hatred is on the rise. There are messages on social media calling for people to disrupt the march,” InterLGBT president James Lepellier told Reuters earlier this week.
Lepellier said hate speech and violence had increased since the RN’s landslide victory in the European Parliament elections on June 9. He said organizers of the Paris protests had doubled the number of volunteers providing security.
“We are worried about access to healthcare, about our daily safety,” drag queen Simone de Boulevard told Reuters at an event in Paris.
“Homophobic and transphobic violence is unacceptable,” de Boulevard added.
LGBTQIA+ stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex and asexual, with the + sign representing diverse sexual identities and other parts of gender identity.
