ZAGREB, 3 July 2021 - A Pride Parade with about 100 participants started off at Roosevelt Square in downtown Zagreb at 3.30 pm on Saturday, marking the 20th LGBTIQ march in Zagreb under the motto "Pride Forever".

Participants are carrying rainbow-coloured signs, flags, clothes and props as well as banners reading "Love doesn't ask what's under the skirt/pants", "Faggots are workers too" and "Homosexual from head to toe".

A political rally called "Twenty prides together in comradeship and resistance" is scheduled for 5.30 pm at Ribnjak Park.

This year's Pride is one of the first mass gatherings to be held under COVID rules that went into force on 1 July, under which participants in larger gatherings must have digital COVID certificates. Dozens of wardens at Roosevelt Square checked if they did.

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The Zagreb Pride March will be held this year with the slogan "Eighteen Proud Years" on Saturday, June 6th, and its route will be through the centre of the city. The organisers held a press conference today, announcing the organisational details of the gathering. They stressed that the Pride March is the longest-lasting political protest for human rights in Croatia.

The gathering of those supporting the LGBTIQ rights and their families will start at Roosevelt's Square (in front of the Mimara Museum) in Zagreb at 15:00, the organisers have said. The Zagreb Pride March will then briefly take over the centre of the city, on the following route: Republika Hrvatska Square (by the Croatian National Theatre), Frankopanska Street, Ilica, Bana Jelačić Square, Jurišićeva Street, Draškovićeva Street all the way to Ribnjak Park, where the main event with the speeches and a concert by the choir "Le Zbor" will be held. (And a party after that, of course)

?️‍?[RUTA] ?️‍?Povorka ponosa započinje okupljanjem u subotu, 08.06. u 15h ispred Mimare i prolazi središnjim zagrebačkim ulicama i trgovima sve do Ribnjaka, gdje će završiti javnim skupom i koncertom Le Zbor!

Sve i svi na Prajd, a poslije na Partycipaciju u klubu Boogaloo! ??? pic.twitter.com/7Fwo6xfBTh

— Zagreb Pride (@zagrebpride) June 5, 2019

Zagreb Pride reminds the public that they started the fight for the freedom they have today bravely back in 2002, comparing their first efforts to the Stonewall riots, which started the international LGBTIQ rights movement 50 years ago.

Their efforts in the last 18 proud years have shown that reality can be changed if there's unity and that the society we're trying to build has room for all proud and brave people who will embrace those who are being excluded, beaten and humiliated.

They also wanted to highlight that this is not just a phase, that LGBTIQ people are here, they are part of the fabric of society and they're not going anywhere. "This country is for all of us, and standing on the right side of history means being marginalised today, being a part of the resistance tomorrow, and living in freedom forever", Zagreb Pride said.