Tens of thousands of people gathered on Saturday afternoon in Seoul for the city’s Pride parade, following months of wrangling with officials who had rejected an application to hold the event at its usual spot in front of City Hall.
The annual celebration, which began 23 years ago as a gathering of a few dozen people, was expected to attract more than 100,000 people to the capital’s Euljiro business district. The new location was at a major intersection about half a mile away from the traditional site in grassy Seoul Plaza, a symbolic spot often used by unions and other protest groups.
Locals and tourists cheered as the parade got underway, with revelers draped in rainbow flags, walking under colorful umbrellas or fanning themselves after a heat warning was issued earlier in the day.