By the Associated Press
WARSAW, Poland — Police in eastern Poland detained a number of people who threw bottles at officers and verbally abused participants in the city of Bialystok's first LGBT pride parade Saturday.
Police use tear gas at a group of young men who were trying to block the first LGBT pride parade in the eastern Polish city of Bialystok, Poland, on Saturday, July 20, 2019. (AP Photo / MANILA BULLETIN)
Officers in riot gear and border guards escorted more than 500 people along the Equality Parade route in Bialystok.
Police officers fired tear gas when a group of young men who were trying to block the parade started throwing bottles at them.
Local police spokesman Tomasz Krupa said one person was detained for allegedly snatching a rainbow flag away from a parade participant.
The parade continued, with banners reading "Love is not a Sin" and "Equality of the Sexes."
In 2016, a few hundred young nationalists marched through Bialystok carrying banners for far-right organizations that included the National-Radical Camp, which is modeled after a fascist movement from 1930s Poland.