Pride parade in north-eastern Germany met with far-right protests

A Pride parade in north-eastern Germany was accompanied by police on Saturday as far-right groups held counter-demonstrations, reported dpa.

The rally in Wismar was the first Pride parade to be held in the Baltic Sea port, with between 700 and 1,000 people taking part according to police estimates.

A large contingent of police was on hand as the parade passed some 150 far-right demonstrators in the town centre.

Pride parades are held to defend the rights of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ+) community.

In Germany, the marches are known as Christopher Street Day (CSD), in honour of the 1969 protest against police discrimination at the Stonewall Inn on Christopher Street in New York City, which helped spark the modern LGBTQ+ movement.

Several Pride marches this year have also been met with far-right counter-protests marked by aggression and violence directed towards the LGBTQ+ community.

Wismar earlier saw isolated scuffles at the train station when right-wing and left-wing demonstrators arrived simultaneously.

Police separated the two groups after a group of parade-goers called counter-demonstrators "Nazi pigs."

Stefanie Drese, Social Minister in the northern state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, also joined the rally on Saturday.

"As the state government, we will not accept that people are discriminated against and threatened because of their sexual identity or sexual orientation," she said.

"We will therefore continue to advocate for an open society with courage and determination," Drese added.