PHOTOS: Thousands flood the streets of Madrid for World Pride
Participants in fancy dress wait for the start of the WorldPride 2017 parade in Madrid on July 1, 2017.
Thousands have taken to the streets of Madrid for the World Pride parade.
World Pride takes place in Madrid this week, with a parade this afternoon.
World Pride Madrid will include open-air concerts, artists across different performing stages, parties, art, culture and sport.
Eurovision winner Loreen is also performing at one of the clubs.
It was expected that two million people would attend events across the city this week.
World Pride Madrid Pride 2017 – running under the banner “Whoever you love, Madrid loves you” – takes place from June 23 to July 2, with the main Madrid Pride Parade taking place this afternoon.
PinkNews brings you a selection of photographs from the event.
Check them out below:
The streets of Madrid singing the Pride anthem for #WorldPride pic.twitter.com/woBVKsEvlV
— Samuel Leighton-Dore (@SamLeightonDore) June 28, 2017
A participant holds an umbrella with the colours of the Rainbow Flag at Cibeles square before the start of the march during the WorldPride 2017 parade, in Madrid on July 1, 2017.
Authorities and organisers expect today one to two million people to attend the world’s biggest festive demonstration for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights, in the 3.1-million-strong Spanish capital, which has become a global reference in LGBT openness.
/ AFP PHOTO / GERARD JULIEN (Photo credit should read GERARD JULIEN/AFP/Getty Images)
The city installed permanent gender-equal and inclusive traffic lights ahead of the event.
But security had also been ramped up ahead of the event, reports El Pais.
It is expected that World Pride will attract 2 million tourists to the city for the event taking place between 23 June and 2 July.
The local government in Madrid was earlier this year attempting to ban a bus advertising campaign that attacks transgender people.
The bus campaign reads in Spanish: “If you’re born a man, you’re a man. If you’re a woman, you’ll always be a woman.”
But the regional government in the city was assessing whether it has the power to have the campaign banned.
New streetlights featuring gay and lesbian couples holding hands were announced for the centre of Turin earlier this year.
Lithuania’s Parliament marked the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia this year by lighting up in rainbow colours.
