Warsaw Equality Parade
Jun. 11th, 2006 03:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
winterYesterday's parade started off with wind and cloudy skies as we walked towards the Parliament. K and I were mostly talking about football and college - two guaranteed bonding subjects at the moment. K was worried about neo-nazis, since in Gdansk there's usually more of them than of the protesters at similar demonstrations, but I pointed out that most of the idiots were in Germany for the World Cup. We saw some people heading our way and obviously part of the parade ;) and also a significant police presence.
When we got there half an hour before the appointed time, there were already about a thousand people there, plus fifty or so idiot protesters with "no queers!" signs >_< Still, we made our way into the crowd so that we didn't see the idiots, just the cool people with the parade. The highlight was a guy who brought his pet python, just hanging around his neck. Lots of foreigners, some politicos (left side and center/liberal), lots of regular people, I even saw a daughter-mother-grandmother team. Banners were still being made; someone tried to give me one that said "My grandmother was a lesbian", but I refused for fear that Gran would see me on TV and have a heart attack ;)
I saw a WWII veteran with his medals pinned to his lapel. He politely refused a socialist newspaper.
We set off finally almost an hour later, with two floats and, at first sight, about 3-4 thousand people. It took a very long time to get the parade going - later we realised it was because a lot of people were waiting on the route and joining in, since the Parliament square wasn't large enough to hold the crowd. For a while we walked behind two Germans in their fifties who were holding a giant sheet with "Gays and the Church" on it.
I found a pink-triangle enamelled pin on the street. I think I have a new good-luck charm.
Once we got into the actual streets, it was way fun. We started pushing our way forward a bit, at first to get past a group of eco-activists all wrapped up in green tape. People waved at us from their windows and we cheered right back. The pair of shirtless guys at one window got a particularly big cheer. Somewhere around that point![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
seidthe said hi, but I'd just got a text message from my and K's mothers, so we had to hurry onwards. At times we wove out of the main parade and ran up along the sidelines, where the cops walked.
Once in a while, people released large bunches of purple baloons from the parade floats, and everybody bounced them around volleyball style. I was quite upset K is taller than me and always managed to get to them first :P
Negotiating turns took a while, but finally we were on Marszalkowska, the main avenue. About halfway through, we reached the first parade float and realised it wasn't the front of the parade at all, but rather the middle. A sea of people stretched out in either way. For the first time ever, I saw people on the windows and balconies of the houses lining the street; normally they're ghost houses, all barred against the noise from the street. There were tons of onlookers taking photos and waving at us, and near the very city centre, I saw Mother standing on a street post and taking photos. I had a feeling she'd pick up my camera before heading out ;)
For a while we all walked together, but we wanted to see all of the parade, so we left the moms behind. Before we were past the Palace of Culture, we made it to the anarchist group - amazingly nice people, all masked and dressed in black, also very well-organised, with their own sound equipment. They were about the only group who shouted coherent slogans all the time. Around this point there was the first incident when some guy with a "No to the EU" banner tried to throw something, but the cops quickly barred his way, also not letting the anarchists get to him. Which was probably a good idea.
At Swietokrzyska we saw the first coherent mini-demonstration of neo-nazi homophobes, about 20 of them safely on the other side of the street. (The parade was taking up half the street, but Marszalkowska is a wide thoroughfare.) One guy crossed the street in some crazy attempt at attacking us, but the cops dogpiled him very effectively. It turned out that the main body of the neo-nazis (less than a hundred in total) was in the Saski Garden, which we passed by next, but so were hundreds of policemen. K and I made it to the head parade float by then, and we took part in the one slogan everyone shouted - "Thank you brave policemen!"
And before that, we passed a great rainbow flag carried horizontally at shoulder level by about a dozen people. Little children danced under the flag.
We finally went into the last stretch - the highlight was passing a church and people waving at us from the church grounds - when I decided I had enough of breathing in the engine fumes of the parade float. I dragged K up front, and we finished the parade walking in the very front row :)
I can honestly say we had a great time. The official police estimate is at 2-3 thousand people, the organisers said 20 thousand. From what I've seen, I think 10 thousand at minimum - 15 wouldn't surprise me in the least.
And then we grabbed dinner and went to see dancing vampires. A rather fitting ending to the day, especially since Herbert was extra flaming that night :D
Look at all the people!
Obligatory parade drag queen:
There were also a lot of people watching from the sidelines and walking along with us:
A great big thank-you to the boys inblue black for doing a splendid job :)
I didn't get any decent photos of myself and K, but at Inna Strona there's a shot of us from the back as we watch the cops do their job. Note my princess Leia hairdo :D
When we got there half an hour before the appointed time, there were already about a thousand people there, plus fifty or so idiot protesters with "no queers!" signs >_< Still, we made our way into the crowd so that we didn't see the idiots, just the cool people with the parade. The highlight was a guy who brought his pet python, just hanging around his neck. Lots of foreigners, some politicos (left side and center/liberal), lots of regular people, I even saw a daughter-mother-grandmother team. Banners were still being made; someone tried to give me one that said "My grandmother was a lesbian", but I refused for fear that Gran would see me on TV and have a heart attack ;)
I saw a WWII veteran with his medals pinned to his lapel. He politely refused a socialist newspaper.
We set off finally almost an hour later, with two floats and, at first sight, about 3-4 thousand people. It took a very long time to get the parade going - later we realised it was because a lot of people were waiting on the route and joining in, since the Parliament square wasn't large enough to hold the crowd. For a while we walked behind two Germans in their fifties who were holding a giant sheet with "Gays and the Church" on it.
I found a pink-triangle enamelled pin on the street. I think I have a new good-luck charm.
Once we got into the actual streets, it was way fun. We started pushing our way forward a bit, at first to get past a group of eco-activists all wrapped up in green tape. People waved at us from their windows and we cheered right back. The pair of shirtless guys at one window got a particularly big cheer. Somewhere around that point
seidthe said hi, but I'd just got a text message from my and K's mothers, so we had to hurry onwards. At times we wove out of the main parade and ran up along the sidelines, where the cops walked.Once in a while, people released large bunches of purple baloons from the parade floats, and everybody bounced them around volleyball style. I was quite upset K is taller than me and always managed to get to them first :P
Negotiating turns took a while, but finally we were on Marszalkowska, the main avenue. About halfway through, we reached the first parade float and realised it wasn't the front of the parade at all, but rather the middle. A sea of people stretched out in either way. For the first time ever, I saw people on the windows and balconies of the houses lining the street; normally they're ghost houses, all barred against the noise from the street. There were tons of onlookers taking photos and waving at us, and near the very city centre, I saw Mother standing on a street post and taking photos. I had a feeling she'd pick up my camera before heading out ;)
For a while we all walked together, but we wanted to see all of the parade, so we left the moms behind. Before we were past the Palace of Culture, we made it to the anarchist group - amazingly nice people, all masked and dressed in black, also very well-organised, with their own sound equipment. They were about the only group who shouted coherent slogans all the time. Around this point there was the first incident when some guy with a "No to the EU" banner tried to throw something, but the cops quickly barred his way, also not letting the anarchists get to him. Which was probably a good idea.
At Swietokrzyska we saw the first coherent mini-demonstration of neo-nazi homophobes, about 20 of them safely on the other side of the street. (The parade was taking up half the street, but Marszalkowska is a wide thoroughfare.) One guy crossed the street in some crazy attempt at attacking us, but the cops dogpiled him very effectively. It turned out that the main body of the neo-nazis (less than a hundred in total) was in the Saski Garden, which we passed by next, but so were hundreds of policemen. K and I made it to the head parade float by then, and we took part in the one slogan everyone shouted - "Thank you brave policemen!"
And before that, we passed a great rainbow flag carried horizontally at shoulder level by about a dozen people. Little children danced under the flag.
We finally went into the last stretch - the highlight was passing a church and people waving at us from the church grounds - when I decided I had enough of breathing in the engine fumes of the parade float. I dragged K up front, and we finished the parade walking in the very front row :)
I can honestly say we had a great time. The official police estimate is at 2-3 thousand people, the organisers said 20 thousand. From what I've seen, I think 10 thousand at minimum - 15 wouldn't surprise me in the least.
And then we grabbed dinner and went to see dancing vampires. A rather fitting ending to the day, especially since Herbert was extra flaming that night :D
Look at all the people!
Obligatory parade drag queen:
There were also a lot of people watching from the sidelines and walking along with us:
A great big thank-you to the boys in
I didn't get any decent photos of myself and K, but at Inna Strona there's a shot of us from the back as we watch the cops do their job. Note my princess Leia hairdo :D
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-11 02:25 pm (UTC)sounbds like it was of the great awesome in all ways :D
(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-11 05:24 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-11 05:26 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-11 05:29 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-11 05:30 pm (UTC)... why does this give me some really weird plot bunnies?
(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-11 03:22 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-11 05:25 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-11 05:45 pm (UTC)I'm glad it all went so peacefully and so well.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-11 09:29 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-11 08:48 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-11 09:31 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-11 09:02 pm (UTC)Dobrze, że było spokojnie.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-11 09:30 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-11 09:23 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-11 09:34 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-11 09:38 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-11 09:41 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-11 09:48 pm (UTC)And oh! Last night, discovered a new trick. I'd let my hair semi-dry pre-work, twisting it up tightly to pin in one of those massive hairclips. When I unpinned it, if fell in a perfect coil down one side of my neck, almost to my sternum - thick, perfect and shiny :D I squeed in pleasant surprise :D
(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-11 09:55 pm (UTC)Coolness! Now you know how you'll wear your hair to see the fangy ones, sans curling hassle :)
(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-11 09:59 pm (UTC)I'm going to try it again when I wash my hair tomorrow, see if it wasn't just sheer fluke ;) Of course, that means letting the mane dry out into epic, yeti-like proportions, before beating it back...
(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-11 10:02 pm (UTC)